Second life
by hime1437
Summary: This is prequel to the story 'A carrier'. After Spencer has been de aged, how does BAU continue with their life?
1. Chapter 1

**SUMMARY AND WARNING!**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

" In California, 3 children were found dead in the alley behind a shopping mall. 2 girls and 1 boy, all of them are between 7-10 years old. They were kidnapped on their way to home after school and local polices believes that the children are held captive for few days before the unsub kill them and dump their body in the alley. There are no signs of sexual assault and cause of death is strangulation. The polices are afraid that the unsub may take on a new victim soon and therefore ahs requested our help."

JJ explained as she stood in front of the monitor while Hotch, Morgan, Rossi and Emily sat around the round table, staring at their tablet while listening to JJ briefed about their newest case.

"It looks like the unsub is escalating. It says here the first victim is found on 2nd January and the second victim is found 3 weeks after that and the third victim is found 1 week after that." Morgan said as he stared at the picture of the victims.

"And we are going to stop the unsub before more bodies are found. JJ tell the local officers we will arrive in the evening. Wheels up in 30." Said Hotch as he gathered his file and stood up.

"What about Reid?" Rossi questioned and everyone else looked at Hotch expecting his answer.

"We can't bring him with us this time. He will be a whole lot safer with Garcia here. I will talk to Garcia and asked her to take care of him for a few days." Hotch answered.

"Well, good luck in telling him that." Morgan said as he smirked. He could imagine his little brother's reaction when they tell him that he could not go with them.

"I don't want him to know yet. Get your go bag ready and before we go, we can tell him goodbye. He is in Garcia's office at this moment right?" Hotch looked at JJ who nodded her head.

"Go get ready and meet me at Garcia's office in a few." Hotch said before he got out of the conference room. Everyone else follow his lead as they too went and get ready for their newest case in California.

As Hotch entered his office, he shook his head seeing the toys scattered on the floor, courtesy of Spencer Reid. After being turned to two years old, it was difficult for Spencer to focus and sit still for a long time. At first, it worries them when Spencer would act a lot like children but nowadays, they tend to encourage him to enjoy his new attempt in childhood. They knew that with William Reid leaving when he was 10 and leaving him to take care of his schizophrenic mother, there was no way he had a happy childhood. So now, they kind of believe that there is a good reason why he was the only who got caught in the unsub's sick experiment resulting him to become a two years old but if you ask Spencer, he would strongly protest saying that he is 3 years old instead of two but anybody could tell from looking at his size that he could be no more than two years old. But, they knew better than to argue with him and have him throwing a tantrum regarding his age so they just kept their mouth shut and secretly bought him everything for a 2 years old.

After finished getting his things ready, Hotch proceeded to clean up Spencer's toys and things and put them in his bag for Garcia to take later on. He made sure that Spencer has everything that he needs in the bag to stay over at someone else's house. From his clothes, pull ups, toys, sippy cups, favourite snacks and milks, baby monitor, and not to forget his blankie. After finished with that, Hotch grabbed his go bag and made his way out of his office, where he met with Morgan, JJ, Emily and Rossi who were on their way to Garcia's office to bid goodbyes to Spencer before flying to California to catch the unsub before another child is found dead.

"You guys ready?" at this, Hotch received several nods from his team members.

"Then lets do this." Together they made their way to Garcia's office.


	2. Chapter 2

**SUMMARY AND WARNING!**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

After finished with that, Hotch grabbed his go bag and made his way out of his office, where he met with Morgan, JJ, Emily and Rossi who were on their way to Garcia's office to bid goodbyes to Spencer before flying to California to catch the unsub before another child is found dead.

"You guys ready?" at this, Hotch received several nods from his team members.

"Then lets do this." Together they made their way to Garcia's office.

* * *

Unknown to them, Spencer was just falling asleep less than 5 minutes ago and has not fallen to a deep sleep yet. So when Morgan opened the door to Garcia's office, Spencer was startled awake causing Garcia to stop what she was typing and glared at them for waking up her baby boy.

"You better have a very good reason my furry friends who are not going to be so fluffy anymore for waking my boy wonder here. You know as well as I do trying to put him to sleep is way more difficult than catching a serial killer but due to my proficiency, I managed to somehow do that and you disturb his beauty sleep? Urghh, provide a good reason before I sic..." Garcia's grumble was interrupted by Morgan.

"We are sorry mama. We did not know he was napping. We did not mean to wake pretty boy from his rest." Morgan and the others looked apologetic. They knew how difficult it was to put Spencer down for a nap. Nap time was still an issue for young Spencer. He always protests that a big boy does not need a nap and that he still has a lot of work to do.

Said boy was currently sitting up in his nest while trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. Said nest is courtesy of Garcia consist of several pillows arranged in circle to avoid Spencer rolling around in his sleep and getting injured. The others chuckled lovingly when they saw how his hair was sticking all over the place. Spencer then looked around at whoever has woken him up and his eyes landed on his team members.

 _'That's weird. I can understand if one of them coming here to check up on us, but coming together is unusual. Unless..'_ Spencer thought as he looked down at their hands and true enough each of them was carrying their go bag. Understanding instantly downed on him that they had a case to get to so he better grab his go bag quick so they could be on their way.

"Is it new case? Are we going now? Let me go and get my bag and then we can go." Spencer said as he jumped up and ran towards the door. Having anticipated the move, Hotch had no problem stopping him before he could ran out of the office.

"No Spencer, you are going to stay with Garcia here. I am sorry but we could not bring you with us this time. Garcia, would you mind looking after him for a couple days? Everything he needs is in a bag in my office." Hotch said as he balanced the shocked toddler on his hip.

"Of course boss man, Don't worry about baby genius here. You just go and work your magic and catch the bad guy." The tech analyst assured her boss.

"But... but... I can help with the investigation. Why can't I go too?" Spencer pleaded as he turned his famous puppy dog eyes toward his father figure.

"No can do handsome. You can also help with the investigation from here with Garcia. Besides, we can't exactly bring a child to a crime investigation. What would the local polices say when a bunch of FBI agents bring a child?" Emily tried to reason but failed miserably as they watched Spencer's lower lip wobbled and before long, tears started to run down his cheek.

"I want to go. Sobs. Plis don't liv me behind, JJ." Spencer turned to his head toward his next target seeing that his father figure was not going to change his mind anytime soon. Maybe JJ could help him but she too appeared to agree with Hotch in the matter.

"I'm sorry Spence. Its too dangerous for you to come with us. You will be a whole lot safer here. But don't worry, we will try to come back as soon as possible." JJ was trying to console him but she also failed as his sobbing did not go any quieter.

"Yeah pretty boy. We will be home before you know it and then we can go out and have fun, okay?" Morgan tried next.

The only response they got was Spencer crying louder and grabbing a hold of Hotch tighter using all of his arms and legs as if that could stop them from leaving him.

"It's okay Spencer. I promise to call you every night before you go to bed. And we will finish the case immediately then I will take you home again okay buddy?" receiving a head shake from his surrogate son had the father sighing sadly. This was harder than they had imagined initially. He always knew that Spencer has always had abandonment issue and hate to be left behind. But they had no choice this time, it is too dangerous for him at as the unsub might still be looking for a new victim.

Taking a deep breath and preparing himself for what he was about to do, Hoch slowly but forcefully pried those small arms and legs away from his body and hand the struggling over to the bubbly tech analyst.

"Garcia try to put him back to sleep. I will call you later and inform me if anything happen. I don't care if it is in the middle of the night or anything just call he needs anything."

Garcia did not waste anytime and quickly take her baby wonder, wincing when the boy started to cry louder and struggle in her embrace, desperately reaching for Hotch again. The other could only gaze in sympathy at the bawling toddler and took it as their cue to leave quickly before things become worse.

Even after they had already closed the door to Garcia's office, they could still hear the sound of Spencer crying and it was so miserable that it broke their heart and when they heard their baby boy crying out their name and begging them to not leave him, it was almost enough for them to change their mind but they immediately stopped themselves. They reassured themselves that Spencer is better off being here safe and sound away from a killer that was targeting young children. With heavy heart, they tried to ignore the crying sound and made their way towards the elevator.

Unknown to them, the day did not go as planned.


	3. Chapter 3

**SUMMARY AND WARNING!**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

Even after they had already closed the door to Garcia's office, they could still hear the sound of Spencer crying and it was so miserable that it broke their heart and when they heard their baby boy crying out their name and begging them to not leave him, it was almost enough for them to change their mind but they immediately stopped themselves. They reassured themselves that Spencer is better off being here safe and sound away from a killer that was targeting young children. With heavy heart, they tried to ignore the crying sound and made their way towards the elevator.

Unknown to them, the day did not go as planned.

* * *

"Man, I can't believe that Strauss choose now of all time to had the budget discussion with Hotch. We are already in the car for god's sake!" Morgan growled as he and the other were sitting in the bullpen as they waited for Hotch who was currently in Strauss's office to have a discussion about the team's financial condition as the department was trying to cut down budget.

"You know how Strauss is. Her timing is never right." Rossi agreed with him. Who wouldn't? They are already in the SUV ready to depart when suddenly Hotch got a phone call from Strauss asking him to meet her in her office to discuss things. He tried to reason that they had a jet to catch but Strauss was not having any of it and insisted that the things they need to discuss is important and need to be dealt immediately. So they had no choice but to kill the engine made their way back to the BAU.

They stopped talking when they noticed Garcia was walking towards them. JJ immediately got up and approached her.

"How's Spence?" she asked as she noticed how gloomy her friends look.

"My baby boy just cried himself to sleep. He was struggling and crying wanting to follow you guys but in the end he tired himself out and fell asleep like that. I can't stand seeing him like that so I came out here to take some fresh air and saw you guys here. So what happen? Did the case cancel? Please tell me it is cancelled so I can tell our honey pie that you guys are staying here." Garcia hurriedly blurted out.

"No Pen. We are waiting for Hotch because Strauss wants to talk with him first before we go." Hearing the explanation from Emily made Garcia sighed softly.

"It is not like I don't want to take him home because I do, so very much. I would love to take him and snuggle my bunny boy day and night but I just hate seeing him so miserable saying that everyone is leaving him." Garcia muttered.

"It's not like we leave him on purpose baby girl. The unsub this time is targeting children. We don't want to expose pretty boy to the danger of being kidnapped. I am sure he will be safer with you mama." Morgan whispered back as he put an arm around her.

"Safer maybe, but not happy. And what if something happen to him while you guys are away? You know how he tends to attract trouble especially when he became so tiny and what if..." Her speech was interrupted when they noticed that Hotch had already finished his talk with Strauss and was heading towards them.

"Is he sleeping?" was the first question that came out of Hotch's mouth.

"Yes sir. He just cried himself to sleep."

"I am sorry Garcia but its for the best. Expect phone call from me..." Hotch stopped when he heard Rossi fake a cough and quickly corrected his mistakes. " I mean phone calls from us every day. He takes his dinner at 7 usually, make sure he eats because he tends to get carried away while playing and after that bath and bedtime. Just give him his blankie and read something to him and he will fell asleep straight away. And make sure you left the monitor on because sometimes he gets nightmare and..."

"Hey Aaron, I'm sure Garcia knows what to do. It is not the first time Spencer staying with her. Why don't we go now? We are already late as it is." Rossi stopped Hotch in mid-rant.

"I know Dave. Its just that I can't help being worried every time I am away from him. But you are right. We should get going." Hotch said. They then said goodbye to Garcia and headed toward the parking where their SUVs were located so that they could go to the airstrip where a jet is waiting for them to take them to California.

* * *

About 20 minutes later, 2 SUVs arrived at the airstrip. Rossi and Hotch exit from one SUV while Morgan, JJ and Emily came out from another. They walked towards the trunk to get their go bags.

"What the hell? You have got to be kidding me. " Morgan exclaimed causing everyone else to stop what they were doing and look to see what was going on.

"Why? What's wrong Morgan?" Emily asked as she and JJ made their way to stand next to him and they too were speechless upon seeing what had caused Morgan to become surprised.

"Oh my... Hotch, Rossi you have got to see this." JJ said after she finally able to get her voice back.

His curiosity level rise after seeing his team's reaction and before long, both he and Rossi also were standing in front of the opened trunk and what he saw was something that neither of them expected.

There, between the bags that belong to JJ, Morgan and Emily was their youngest sleeping serenely using one of the bags as a pillow while holding his robot in one hand and the thumb of other hand firmly stuck in his mouth.

"What is he doing here?" Rossi was the first one to break the silence.

"He must have slipped away and got into the car when we were talking to Garcia in the bullpen." Emily answered.

"What should we do Hotch? We don't have time to send him back to Quantico. It will take us about an hour considering the traffic and we can't leave him here." Morgan questioned as he rubbed his head, thinking of a solution. After a few moments of consideration, Hotch finally answered back.

"No, we don't have time to waste. It seems like we don't have a choice except to bring him with us to California. " He really did not expect his stubborn son to follow them secretly.

"But Hotch, it is going to be dangerous for him there. What if the unsub got to him?" JJ protested.

"I agree with Hotch. Its not only in California, where it will be dangerous. Danger is everywhere and with his tendency to attract trouble, I think it is better if we keep an eye on him ourselves. If we tried to send him, I am afraid that he will only find another way to follow us and next time something worse could happen." Rossi tried to reason and after contemplating this, the others also agreed with him.

"Morgan, can you take my bag? I will carry Spence to the jet." JJ said as she slowly picked him up together with his robot, carefully to avoid waking him up.

"I will call Garcia and tell her that we have Spencer with us so that she won't freak out when she realized that Spencer was missing from his nest. " Emily said.

The guys just nodded and taking all the bags with them, they followed JJ who was carrying sleeping Spencer in one arms while her other hand trying to block his face from the glaring sunlight.

After storing their bags in the compartment, they each took a seat in their usual place and fasten their seatbelt and preparing for takeoff. Later, JJ stood up from her seat and went towards the couch to lay the toddler down and taking a blanket from Morgan, she put it around the slumbering child and softly kissed his head.

After making sure that her Spence is comfortable and safe, she made her way back to her seat next to Emily as they sat opposite of Rossi and Hotch while Morgan remained standing behind Emily.

"It's a good thing that pretty boy stays asleep. Last thing we need is to deal with him being cranky due to not enough nap." Morgan whispered.

"He must have exhausted himself after all the crying from before. Poor Spence. Hotch, what about his supplies? We didn't bring any of his things, not even his clothes." JJ said.

"I will ask Garcia to post us his things and until then, we could just buy pyjamas and pull ups to survive beforehand. I will make sure to have a proper talk with him after he wakes up and ensure he will not act recklessly ever again." Hotch sighed thinking about proper punishment that he should give to his surrogate son. He hated having to punish him but in order for him to learn his lesson, he had to.

He then looked over to where his son was sleeping and could not stop a smile from forming on his face. No matter how angry he was over his behaviour, seeing him sleeping serenely really made him felt relieved. The other followed his line of gaze and they too smiled fondly upon seeing the youngest sleeping after his episode in Garcia's office before.

"I agree with Rossi thought. Seeing him in front of me really put my heart at ease. I think that having him with us can make me focus more on my work instead of being worried about him all the time." JJ said and everyone had to agree with her. Hotch coughed to get their attention.

"Enough of staring at him sleeping. Let's talk about the case. After we arrived, Rossi and Morgan, I want you to the dump site. Emily, we will go and talk with the victim's family. JJ, I need you to set up at the police station and Spencer will be with you." Hotch ordered as he passed them the case file and together they review the case before arriving in California.


	4. Chapter 4

**SUMMARY AND WARNING!**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

"Enough of staring at him sleeping. Let's talk about the case. After we arrived, Rossi and Morgan, I want you to the dump site. Emily, we will go and talk with the victim's family. JJ, I need you to set up at the police station and Spencer will be with you." Hotch ordered as he passed them the case file and together they review the case before arriving in California.

* * *

The first thing that Spencer realized when he was waking up from his sleep is that he was very comfortable and warm. So comfortable that he almost did not want to open his eyes. Second thing is that his surrounding is very noisy which is weird considering that Garcia's office is usually quiet except the noise of clicking on the computer's keyboard so it means that he was not in Garcia's office at that moment. Spencer concluded. With that thought, he immediately opened his eyes and was shocked to see a place that he was not familiar with.

He could see that he was currently in a room that contain an evidence board and from the glass door he saw few police officers in their uniforms walking around so he must have been in a police station. He racked his brain trying to remember how on earth he ended up there but came up with nothing. The last thing that he remembered was hiding in the trunk of his team's SUV. He also recalled being sleepy during the car ride.

' _I must have fallen asleep along the way but what happen then? Did they find out about me? Where are they?'_ Spencer started to panic when he realized that no one from his team was in sight and to make thing worse, an unfamiliar woman in uniform just entered the room and was looking at him.

"Oh, you wake up already, honey. Did you have a good nap?" the lady said as she crouched down in front of the couch he was on. Unconsciously, Spencer recoiled away from the lady and let out a distressed whimper.

"It's okay. Don't be scared, honey. Let me get your mommy for you, okay?" without waiting for his respond, the lady got up and was already walking toward the door.

' _My mommy? Are we in vegas now? Isn't mom is supposed to be at the centre? Argghhh, this is so confusing. '_ For someone with an eidetic memory and can remember every single moment in his life, it was suck to have a big gap in his memory.

"Agent Jareu, your son has woken up." Spencer became more confused when he heard the lady refer to him as JJ's son but nevertheless he was so happy and relieved to see JJ coming through the door with a cup of coffee in her hands. He quickly raised his arms asking to be picked up, in which JJ gladly complied as she put down her coffee on the table and scooped him up, balancing him on her hips.

"Did you have a good rest, Spence?" JJ asked as she tried to smooth down his hair that was sticking up all over the place. Spencer shyly nodded as he was still conscious of the lady from before was currently standing behind them.

"That's good, sweetie. I am glad. Hey, I want you to meet with Officer Kate. She is an officer here in California PD." JJ said as she turned him facing Kate.

"Hi there, I believe this robot is yours, what's it's name?" Kate asked as she handed him his robot that must have fallen to the floor while he was napping. Spencer did not answer her, instead he just accepted the robot and buried his face into JJ's shoulder and tighten his arms around her neck, as if that would make him invisible.

"I am sorry. He tends to get quiet after waking up from a nap, especially in a new place. " JJ apologized as she slowly rubbed his back to soothe him.

" It's okay. I understand that children are afraid of new places. Sometimes I look after my nieces when my sister had to go away for business trip so I know a few things or two about children."

"Thank you. He will be okay after a while, usually. How old is your niece?" JJ questioned while her hands continued with the motion.

"She is 18 months. Her name is Ashley. She just learned to walk. Is Spencer walking yet?" Her question caused JJ to giggle.

"Spencer is actually two years old. He is up and running already and he really likes to climb things. We can't seem to catch up with him anymore."

"Oh my, I am so sorry. I thought that he is a year old or something like that. He is so small, please don't take any offence. He is about the same size as my niece so I figured that they are about the same age. I am sorry." Kate gushed looking embarrassed.

"Don't worry. We get that a lot actually. Spencer is really smaller than other kids his age." JJ said snickering but stopped when she felt him tightening his arms around her neck to the point that she almost choked. She rolled her eyes. Really, Spence and his size issue. Kate, who noticed the movement thought that Spencer was bothered by her presence so she quickly excused herself saying that she need to continue with her work.

After Kate had left, JJ focused her attention back to the small boy in her arms. She walked over to the couch that he had slept and sat down on it as she placed him on her laps.

"Are you hungry or thirsty Spencer? You slept through the afternoon until evening. We were worried but we figured out you are just tired, sweetie."

"Tan I hav some watew pliz?" Spencer croaked out as he turned up to look at his mother figure. There are so many questions that he wanted to ask but he figured they could all wait after he quench his dry throat.

"Alright sweetie. You stay here while I go and grab you some food and drink. I don't think they had anything for children here but I am sure we can find something." Spencer let out a whine when JJ deposited him on the couch next to her. He quickly climbed back onto her lap and grabbed a hold of her.

JJ realized that the boy did not want to be left alone, so she said nothing as she stood up with him and together they headed towards the pantry of the police station. There, they looked around the room and inside the fridge.

"I don't think they have milk here. Is juice and breads okay?" JJ questioned referring to the bread in plastic wrap. It may have not been fulfilling but it will have to do until they could get a proper meal later on.

"Just juice is fine. I'm not hungwy." Spencer said.

"You have to eat something Spence, you have not eaten since morning right? Eat something for me, okay?" JJ put on her best sad face so Spencer had no choice but to agree with her. It never fails with Spencer. Grabbing both items, they made their way back to the previous room.


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review.

Thank you for the reviews. I wasn't supposed to post a new one today but your review has kept me going.

* * *

 **Previously,**

"You have to eat something Spence, you have not eaten since morning right? Eat something for me, okay?" JJ put on her best sad face so Spencer had no choice but to agree with her. It never fails with Spencer. Grabbing both items, they made their way back to the previous room.

* * *

Minutes later, both of them were seen enjoying their drinks. Spencer was sipping his juice and JJ was drinking her forgotten coffee from before. Spencer figured that it was perfect time to ask his questions.

"JJ, wut happen? How did you guys find me? And why did Officer Kate think dat I'm your son?"

"We were already at the air strip and trying to retrieve our bag when we found you. Imagine our surprise when we opened that trunk and saw you sleeping there. We had no choice but to bring you with us. When the officers asked when they saw Hotch carrying you into the police station, we had to say that you are our son to avoid suspicion. Hence, the whole time you are here, you have to call me and Hotch as mom and dad okay?" JJ explained.

"Dat is so weird." Spencer made a face. " Is Hotch, I mean is da.. dad.. ummmmm daddy mad at me?" Spencer quickly corrected his mistakes when he noticed JJ narrowing her eyes at his slip up.

"Hotch said that he wants to have a talk with you. What you did is dangerous Spence. What if something happen to you?"

Before Spencer could answer her, the door suddenly opened to reveal Hotch and Emily. Upon seeing Hotch, Spencer quickly put down his juice and hid behind JJ. Hotch grabbed a chair and put it in front of the couch facing them before taking a seat.

"Come here, Spencer." he ordered while pointing to the spot in front of him.

Pouting, Spencer slowly slid from behind JJ and stood in front of his boss. He knew that he was not about to like the upcoming talk but he already did what he did so now he had to accept the consequences.

Emily realized that they need to talk and she did not want to be present during the talk so she excused herself from the room saying that she needs to grab a cup of coffee before turning around to leave the room.

"Hold on Em. I am coming with you. I need to call Garcia." JJ said as she stood up from her position and giving her surrogate son a gentle pat on the back and sympathy look, she followed Emily outside the room, closing the door softly giving the father and son the privacy they needed.

They stay in the silence for a while with Spencer fidgeting while looking down on his feet. He did not dare to bring his eyes to look up at his boss. Hotch was left staring at him, making sure that his son is safe and sound and not hurt or injured. Rossi and JJ was right, with Spencer being in front of him really put his mind at ease. If he had been left at Quantico, he might have worried himself to sick. But still what he did is wrong and need to be dealt. When Hotch thought the boy had suffered enough, he finally broke the silence.

"I take it that JJ has filled you in?" He received a nod from the boy. Sighing softly, he took a hold of Spencer's chin and slowly lifted his face to look at him.

"I want to talk to you about what you did son. What you did is reckless. I can't believe that you would act like that. Not only did you go out alone, without telling anyone, and you ride in the trunk instead of car seat. That is dangerous Spencer. What if something happen to you? What if you got kidnapped or injured? Did you know how worried Garcia was when he found you missing? What about the fact that we, the FBI agents taking a toddler to a crime investigation? People will talk about this. And you came here without any supplies at all. What were you thinking Spencer? I am so disappointed with your behaviour."

Hearing that he had disappointed his father and boss, had him bursting into tears. " I'm sowwy Hotch. I didn't min to mate you guys wowwy. I swear. I just don't want to be left behind. I know wut I did is stupid and I promise not to do it again. Pliz don't send me bat." Spencer cried as he threw himself at Hotch who caught him.

"Shhh... I know buddy but that doesn't mean that we can let your behaviour slide like that. If we are at home, I would have put you in a time out but since we are here, I can't do that. So I am going to have to take your toy away okay? I am sorry Spencer but it is the only way to make sure you learn your lesson." Hotch said.

Upon hearing that his precious robot will be taken, he almost wants to cry harder and protest but upon seeing the look on Hotch face, he changed his mind. He should be grateful that Hotch did not punish him worse than that so wiping his tears and snot using his sleeves, Spencer looked at his father figure and asked, "until when?"

"Until I say so kiddo. Now hand it over." Slowly Spencer reached for his robot on the couch and put it in Hotch's open hands. Hotch smiled and praised him, "Good job, buddy." He got up and stashed the robot in his bag. He still has not decided he was going to keep it away for how long, but he figured until he or JJ has decided it is time to give it back then he will return it to his son.

"OK then, did you finish your snack already?" The little boy nodded his head. "Lets go and wash your face ok buddy?" He received another nod. He scoot back his chair before standing up. He could feel Spencer tugging on his pants leg as a sign that he want to be picked up so he bent down and scoop him on his hip before they both headed to the bathroom to clean up.


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

"OK then, did you finish your snack already?" The little boy nodded his head. "Lets go and wash your face ok buddy?" He received another nod. He scoot back his chair before standing up. He could feel Spencer tugging on his pants leg as a sign that he want to be picked up so he bent down and scoop him on his hip before they both headed to the bathroom to clean up.

* * *

After finished with their bathroom break, they made their way back towards the room that they were assigned for during the investigation but was stopped by JJ.

"Hotch, can I talk to you for a second? Spence, why don't you go on ahead? Emily is waiting for you in the room."

"Go on buddy. We will be there soon." Hotch put down Spencer on his feet and directing him towards the room in which he complied without saying anything.

"I already talk to Garcia and she said that all the victims are from different school and the only connection they have is that one of their family members used to be a cop. Either father or grandfather. Morgan and Rossi are also on their way back from the ME."

"So the motive may be revenge? Ask Garcia to do background check on their family and I want the files for every cases they used to work on. The unsub may be someone that they put behind the bars."

"Already did. Garcia said it may take a while but when she has them, she will send them to us. By the way, she already post Spencer's bag here and it will probably arrived tomorrow morning. I guess that means we have to buy pjs and pull ups for him tonight."

"OK. When Morgan and Rossi came back, I will ask them to interview the polices here. In the mean time, we need to go to the mall to interview the workers there. Some of them might have seen something. Spencer can come with us. The mall has a play centre with supervisor so we don't have to worry about leaving him there while we do our interview. Then after we finish we can buy his necessities for tonight."

"But there is one problem, Hotch. We don't have a car seat. How are we going to take Spencer to the mall? Its not safe for him without a car seat and you know he can't sit still..." Before JJ could continue, she was interrupted by Kate.

"I'm sorry but I overheard you talk about car seat. I may have a solution to your problem. You see, I also don't own a car seat so everytime my niece came over, I uses baby carrier whenever we go out. It is safe and ensures that the child will not fall or roll around during the drive. Furthermore, I happen to have it here and since I am not using it at the moment I can lent it you guys." Kate said.

"That is great idea, Kate. Thank you for lending it to us. You don't know how much it will help. The only problem now is to coax our... uhhh son to use it. Spence never like not being able to move around" JJ found it weird having to refer Spencer as her and Hotch's son. She did not mind having to pretend to be Spencer's mother but having to pretend to be Hotch's wife is another story. Never in million years had she imagined to be in that position.

"Don't worry, I am sure you and your husband can convince him. Let me go and get it for you." Not long after Kate came back with the said carrier and gave it to JJ and she taught her briefly on how to use it with the promise that if she ever need help, just ask her. Both JJ and Hotch thank her for her help before Kate went her way.

"Well then, lets go tell our beloved mischievous son about this, sweetheart."

JJ's mouth gaped open hearing Hotch say that. She did not know which one was worse. His boss calling her colleague as their son or his boss calling him sweetheart? She saw him smirking at her shocked face and instantly knew that he was just messing with her. Hotch then headed towards the room, leaving her speechless in the middle of the room. JJ never saw this coming, Hotch cracking a joke. One thing for sure, she is so going to tell Emily and Pen later. With that thought in mind, JJ followed behind Hotch into the room, where Spencer and Emily were waiting for them.

* * *

When they entered the room, they saw Emily was playing with their youngest. She was spinning him around while he was laughing so hard that there are tears in his eyes. When Emily finally noticed JJ and Hotch, she quickly stopped what she was doing and looking embarrassed at being caught playing on the job.

"uhhhh, sorry about that, sir. We were just playing around but now we are ready to work. Right, kiddo?"

"Uhuh. Weady and waitin." The little boy nodded with a determined look on his face that caused others to laugh at him fondly.

"JJ, is there something wrong? Your face is all flushed" Emily asked when she finally able to take a good look on her friend's face and saw how red it is.

"No, nothing's wrong. Why do you think something is wrong." JJ quickly denied. When she was sure that both Hotch and Spencer were not looking at her, she quietly mouthed, 'I will tell you later' to Emily, who got her message and nodded her head.

"Emily, the only connection that we are able to get from the victims is that they are related to a police officer so I need you, Morgan and Rossi to interview the polices here. Try to find out more about the cases that they used to work on. Garcia will send all the files later. JJ and I will go to the mall and interview the workers there. We will bring Spencer with us." Hotch said in a firm voice receiving a happy yell from the said boy at the mention of going out, but abruptly stopped his celebration when he heard what Emily said next.

"Are you sure that you want to take him with you? He can stay here with us. I mean, we don't have a car seat." Emily said.

"About that... Spence, do you remember Officer Kate?" She saw him nod his head and he kind of looked insulted that JJ would ask that question. He has an eidetic memory for god sake! "Well, Officer Kate overheard us talking and she was so kind to lend us this." JJ added as she held up the carrier in her hand.

Spencer and Emily were taken aback that they didn't notice that JJ was actually holding something in her hand. Upon closer inspection, they realize that it was a carrier. When the realization dawned on Spencer his face quickly changed to anger, mortification, irritation and he did the first thing that came to his mind, he lashed out.

"NO! I wefuse to be cawwy in dat thing! I am 30 yeaws old FBI agent. I don't need that."

"This is not up for discussion, Spencer. We know who you truly are but your body is small now and this is for your own safety. We just don't want you to get hurt." Hotch said as he hoped to calm him down before a full blown tantrum broke out.

"But Hotch, evewyone wil waugh at me when they saw me in... in... dat thing. And Mowgan wil not wet(let) me wive(live) dis down." Spencer argued as tears were already collecting in his eyes waiting to fall.

"No one will laugh at you, Spencer. **Daddy** will make sure to talk with Morgan if he tease you, okay?" Hotch said, stressing the word daddy to remind him of his role.

"No, I don't want to. Pliz don't mate me." Spencer begged.

"Sorry Spence. But it's for your own safety. Nobody will laugh at you, trust me, sweetie." JJ persuaded next. Spencer turned to look at her, then Hotch and finding that they were dead serious, he dropped down on his bottom and let out a wail.

JJ and Emily quickly kneeled down to his level and try to stop him from crying but to no avail while Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. Right at the moment, Morgan and Rossi came into the room, looking out of breath, as if they had been running to get into the room, which is true. When they stepped into the police station, they heard the sound of their youngest crying. Fearing for the worst, they immediately run towards the source of crying and came into the room.

Looking around, they saw their youngest on the floor crying, surrounded by the female members of their team while their boss standing close by looking troubled. Failed to figure out what went wrong, Rossi immediately asked Hotch.

"What's wrong with Spencer? Is he hurt? Did something happen to him? Why is he crying?"

"We... uhh, proposed the idea to use carrier instead of carseat and he disapproved." Hotch explained.

"Proposed?" Morgan asked with a raised eyebrow. He knew that Hotch's version of proposition is really different than normal.

"A very tempered suggestion."

"Figures. Hey pretty boy, for a tiny person you sure cry big huh?" the only response he got was a louder wail and glares from the rest of the team.

"Morgan, now is not the time!" Emily hissed at his co-worker.

Hotch knew that the rest of the people in the police station were starting to stare at them and he hated to make a scene so thinking of the best way to deal with the situation and came out with one, he decided to act quickly. He walked towards Spencer and swiftly scooped the still crying boy in his arms before making his way out of the room and the police station. He needed privacy to talk with his son.

"Let me try to talk to him and calm him down. You guys continue with your work." Was the last thing that Hotch said to his team before leaving the room with the crying boy.


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

Hotch knew that the rest of the people in the police station were starting to stare at them and he hated to make a scene so thinking of the best way to deal with the situation and came out with one, he decided to act quickly. He walked towards Spencer and swiftly scooped the still crying boy in his arms before making his way out of the room and the police station. He needed privacy to talk with his son.

"Let me try to talk to him and calm him down. You guys continue with your work." Was the last thing that Hotch said to his team before leaving the room with the crying boy.

* * *

Hotch went toward the back of the police station where a parking lot is located. He headed toward a row of bench situated in one side. Softly bouncing Spencer in his arms, he tried to soothe the crying boy but nothing he said and did could calm him down as he continued to cry. But he was not about to give up so he continue to talk and hum and rub and sooth the young boy.

After about 20 minutes, Hotch was ready to admit defeat as he took a seat on one of the bench and positioned the crying boy on his lap.

"Come on son. Work with me here. I can't make you sit in the car by yourself. That is too dangerous, and we can't buy you another car seat when we already have one back at home. What if I take you to the mall with me and I let you play at the play centre as long as you want? I don't care how long. If you agree to ride in the carrier, you can play until night if you want to, I won't be mad, I promise."

That got Spencer to quiet down. He rubbed his tears away and turned back to glance at his father figure trying to look of any sign of pretence and found none. Hotch knew that he just need a little more to convince his son.

"And you can have ice cream before dinner. How does that sound, buddy?" Hotch knew that he will regret it sooner or later but at that point he will do anything to stop his crying and if bribing him with ice cream would do the trick, then he would do it. Pride should be damned.

"You pwomise?" Spencer softly asked.

"Of course. I give you my word." Hotch answered as he took out a handkerchief from his pants pocket and wipe away the tears from the boy's face. The boy tried to shrug away from the offending piece of cloth but to no avail.

"Tan I have two ice creams?" Spencer decided to try his luck. Hey, it's not always that Hotch agreed to let him have ice creams and ice creams is his favourite food in the world, so why not make the best of it.

"I guess, but only two okay? And you promise to ride the carrier without any complain. Ok buddy?" Hotch asked as he put away the handkerchief after being satisfied with his cleaning.

"Alwight. But if anybody laugh at me..." Before he could continue, Hotch stopped him in mid sentence.

"Nobody will laugh at you. If Morgan makes fun of you, I will put him in a time out. Now what do you say we go inside and get ready to go to the mall so you can play to your heart's content while JJ and I interview people and remember to call us mommy and daddy okay?" Hotch said as he looked at Spencer and carefully stood up with him in his arms. Spencer then wrapped his arms around his neck and lay his head on Hotch's shoulder.

"I am sowwy for crying lite dat, daddy." Spencer whispers softly in Hotch's ear. Hotch was surprised by the unexpected surge feeling of pride and touched hearing Spencer calling him daddy. He softly pat the young boy's back as a sign that he had heard him.

* * *

When they walked back inside the room, the team members were huddled in one corner and from the look of it, it seems that JJ was giving a warning to Morgan not to make fun of Spencer about the carrier. When they noticed them coming in, they quickly dispersed and pretended to have been absorbed in their work. Both Hotch and Spencer laughed at their failed attempt.

"JJ lets get moving. Someone is eager to get to the play centre." Hotch said grinning signalling that it's okay to use the carrier. JJ, who was startled but quick to come to her senses quickly, grabbed the carrier and put it on according to what Kate had taught her before. She first strapped down the waist strap around her waist leaving the rest dangling down in front of her. She needs to put Spencer on her front before she can strap the shoulder part in its place and lock the safety buckle. Hotch then made to pass Spencer to her. Before Spencer reach for JJ, he turned to glare at Morgan.

"Don't Waugh. If you Waugh at me, I'll tell Garcia on you." Spencer threatened with a pointed finger. Morgan quickly raised his arms in surrender.

"I won't laugh at you man. Cross my hearts and all." Morgan said.

"Don't worry kiddo. I will make sure he won't. You just be safe okay? Do this old man a favour and don't get hurt." Rossi added.

Satisfied with his words, Spencer then turned back to JJ who was waiting for him and he quickly reached for her with raised arms. JJ took him and positioned him properly on her abdomen. All of them were new to the carrier so it took some time to figure out the correct way.

"And then what?" Emily asked.

"And then we need to bring this behind him and I have to put my shoulder in the strap and adjust the length according to our body. Can you help me, Em?" Emily nodded her head as she moved closer to help.

In the end, it takes all of them to help put on the carrier properly. It must have been hilarious for an outsider to see a bunch of FBI agents wrestling to put on a carrier. All of them were standing in a circle with JJ and Spencer in the centre trying to help in one way or another. Hotch help to support Spencer so he will not slipped down and fall in case anything went wrong, Rossi help to hold the shoulder strap so JJ could slip her right arm through and Morgan help with the other shoulder strap and finally when everything in proper place, Emily locked the safety buckle behind her neck. Satisfied with their work and finding the situation a little foolish, they grinned at each other.

"Ok then, all set and ready to go. You three stay here and do the interview. After you finish, go back to the hotel and check in. The rooms are already booked. I'm sorry to say that one of the topic of discussion that I had with Strauss this morning is that we had to share a room from now on so JJ, you with Emily. Morgan, you with Rossi and Spencer with me. When we get back, we can meet up in my room and gather our findings." Hotch said, leaving no room for argument.

* * *

Upon arriving at the parking lot of the mall, they noticed that not a lot of people were there. Maybe after the news about the murders that spread all over the medias, people were afraid to go out anymore. After putting the car in park, Hotch glanced sideways toward the front passenger seat where JJ was seated with Spencer strapped to her. Spencer was oddly quiet and was facing the window so it was impossible for Hotch to determine whether he was sleeping or not. He glanced at JJ and mouthed 'Sleep?' before nodding toward Spencer.

JJ glimpsed down toward Spencer to check and found out Spence did look a little drowsy and dazed but his eyes were opened so she quickly looked up at Hotch and shook her head. Maybe Spencer could feel that they were talking about him, he quickly raised his head from JJ's chest and looked up.

"Can I get out of dis now? Pliz?" he pleaded.

"Alright, buddy. Hold on a minute. JJ, we'll get Spencer signed up at the play centre and made sure he settled then we can go to the workers lounge. The manager is waiting for us there." Hotch said as his hand reached to unclasp the buckle behind JJ. After the buckle was opened, it was easy to unstrap all the other part and before Spencer could even blink, he was already free. Hotch then got out of the car and circled to the opposite side and opened JJ's door. Spencer was waiting with raised arms to which he complied and scooped him up. They waited for JJ to fold the carrier properly and after making sure they got everything they need, they made their way toward the main entrance of the mall.

"Can I walk by myself?'" Spencer asked after they had entered the mall.

"No buddy, You could get lost in the crowd and we don't want that, do we? We should all stay close so we don't lose each other." Hotch said and after debating with himself, he finally decided to be brave and took JJ's hand in his. JJ was startled to feel a hand linking with hers but other than that, she does not show any reaction to the Hotch's action. So Hotch just smiled and grabbed her hand tighter.

After asking the guard about the direction, they found the play centre easily. It was a really large area situated at the side of the mall. You can see that it well secured by the fence and only one entrance to the area so that anyone who come and go can be easily seen. Spencer's eyes widened as he took in all the toys, games, everything to keep a child entertained present at the centre. Hotch and JJ snickered when they saw how amazed Spencer was. They made their way to one of the women who was wearing a uniform with the label of 'caretaker' written on the shirt.

"Hai, my name is Cindy and I am one of the caretakers here. How may I help you?" the young woman welcomed them with a smile.

"Hello. My name is Aaron Hotchner and this is my wife, Jennifer and our son, Spencer. We are FBI agents and we have some work to do in this mall and we are wondering if we can ask you to watch after him for a while."

"You have come to the right place sir. This is where parents usually left their children while they do their shopping or in your case, your work. Is this about the murder of the children that is all over the news?" At her question, she saw JJ nodded her head, so she continued.

"Well, rest your mind, sir and ma'am. We'll take care of little Spencer here so you can concentrate on your job. We usually charge $30 for 2 hours but we'll give you special deal, $30 for unlimited time. You can pick him up after you finish your job. You just need to fill out this form." Cindy handed the said form and a pen to JJ, who started to fill them out.

Hotch set Spencer down on his feet and turned to look at him in the eyes. "Spencer, you behave and listen to Cindy okay? We will try to finish as soon as we can and then we will come and get you."

"Don't wowwy about me. I'll be otay." Spencer answered. He may be a little scared to be left at the play centre all by himself but he was not going to show them to Hotch and JJ and caused them to worry about him. They had already enough things to worry about the case and he did not have to add anything to it. So, he was going to be a brave boy and not be a nuisance to them.

JJ had already finished filling out the form and gave it back to Cindy. "I put down both our number so if anything happen, don't hesitate to call us." JJ said to Cindy who assured them that everything is going to be just fine.

JJ then kneeled down in front of Spencer and enveloped the boy in a hug. "See you in a while, okay Spence?" Spencer just nodded his head and hugged her back. After that, both JJ and Hotch stepped away from Spencer and Cindy and with a final wave, they turned to walk in the opposite direction. Cindy noticed that Spencer was looking at their back with a longing look in his eyes so she quickly try to take his mind of it.

"Hey, Spencer, why don't we check out this place? We have many things that you can try. We have art room where you can paint and color, we have music room with wonderful music instruments that you can play and not to forget we also have..." Cindy went on about the place trying to peak his interest.

Spencer cast one last look to the direction that Hotch and JJ went before sighing softly. He took a deep breath and slowly followed Cindy inside. It's not like they were leaving him, they will come back again in a while so he might as well find something to do while he wait for them and this place has so many things that are captivating and he intend to play to his heart's content, but he just can't seem to shake the bad feeling in his heart.


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

Spencer cast one last look to the direction that Hotch and JJ went before sighing softly. He took a deep breath and slowly followed Cindy inside. It's not like they were leaving him, they will come back again in a while so he might as well find something to do while he wait for them and this place has so many things that are captivating and he intend to play to his heart's content, but he just can't seem to shake the bad feeling in his heart.

* * *

It takes them about 3 hours and 45 minutes to finish interviewing all the workers there, not including the one who were absent that days. But, nevertheless, they already had everything that they need for their case and now it was time to pick up their son. That word had him grinning everytime he said or think about it. It may be weird at first to pretend but now, it all came naturally as if it was the right thing to do. Being a husband and a father were not easy especially when you had Spencer as a son but the joy that came from it is priceless.

They put all the files that they obtained in the car first before heading towards the play centre where Spencer was. They walked through the door with a smile on their face as they expected to find Spencer jumping around playing but their smiles quickly turned to a frown when they could not see him anywhere. There are some kids running around playing but no sight of Spencer anywhere. So they quickly approach one of the caretakers.

"Excuse me. I am Aaron Hotchner and I am looking for my son, Spencer Hotchner. Do you know where he is?"

"Spencer Hotchner? Oh, he is in the art room with Cindy. Follow me sir, I will take you to them." The alarmed look on the caretaker's face make him more anxious, if it was possible.

The lady led them to the back where there were a few sets of doors and standing in front of the door that was labelled with 'art room' she grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. Inside the room, Hotch could see that there were a few desks and chairs arranged in rows and Spencer was sitting at one of the desk colouring in a book with Cindy sitting next to him.

Hearing the door opened had Spencer and Cindy looked up and when their eyes landed on Hotch and JJ, Spencer's eyes lit up and he quickly stood up to run towards them. Shockingly, just as he got up, he fell back down again with a painful yelp. Everyone quickly run to his aids. When Hotch and JJ got near him, they finally noticed that his right feet were bandaged.

"Spence! What happened? What's wrong with his feet? Did something happened to him?" JJ would not admit to herself that at that moment she almost had a panic attack as she fall down on the ground and gently took the ailing boy in her lap and looking for any other injuries.

Seeing that JJ was about to get emotional, Hotch quickly took control of the situation as he addressed Cindy with more control to not lash out.

"What happened?"

"I'm sorry, Mr and Mrs Hotchner. Spencer slipped when he was playing with the swing and landed on his feet wrongly. We already took him to the infirmary and the doctor said that he had stretched his ligaments slightly and fortunately, it was not too serious. With proper rest and medication, he will be okay after a day or two."

"Why wasn't we informed immediately?" JJ questioned as her attention was still on Spencer making sure with her own eyes that he was really okay.

"We were going to call you the minute it happened. But Spencer here begged us not to. He said that you are working and not to disturb you. We decided that we should bring him to see a doctor first and if it was anything serious, we will call you and since it was not, we concur to his request. "

Both Hotch and JJ quickly turned to the small child on JJ's lap. "Why didn't you want to call us, Spence? We should know if something happened to you." JJ softly reprimanded him.

"I am otay, mommy. It was only a sprain." Spencer assured the worrying parents.

"But still, you are important and always will be. Next time, tell us, okay?"

"Otay." Spencer knew that at this point, fighting is futile.

"Good boy. Did the doctor say anything else?"

"His foot is a little swollen at the ankle area so the doctor put his feet in an elastic wrap but it could be taken off after 24 hours. He also advised to put ices a few times and keep it elevated, if possible. If he is in pain, he can take anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce the pain and swellings. And remember Spencer, doctor said no running and jumping, okay?" The last statement is directed to Spencer who smiled sheepishly at the lady.

"If that's all then I guess it is time for us to take our leave. Thank you for looking after him, Cindy."

"It was my pleasure, sir. He is one of the best-behaved kids I ever met and he did not give me any trouble at all. I am sorry that he got injured on my watch, though."

"It wasn't your fault at all. Accidents happen all the time and the probability is a higher with our Spencer, and trust us, we of all people know. Where can I sign us out?" Hotch said as JJ stood up carefully with Spencer in her arms and by the look of it, JJ wasn't going to let go of him anytime soon and he couldn't blame her.

"If you follow me, I can take you to the counter to sign out, sir." Cindy said as she walked towards the counter located at the front, with Hotch following behind her.

"Meet me at the front." Was the last thing Hotch said to JJ and Spencer before he disappeared.

* * *

"Are you sure you are okay, Spence? You are not in pain, right?" JJ asked while they were standing near the door, waiting for Hotch.

"I am fine, JJ. I pwomise. No pain at all." Spencer sighed as he tried to assure his mother figure that he was fine.

"Not JJ. Mommy, remember?" JJ quickly argued.

"Mommy, sowwy, I forgot." Spencer quipped back.

Then they saw Hotch was walking towards them while talking on the phone. They could hear him saying 'see you later' when arrived near them as he shut his phone and slipped into his suit's pocket. Together, they started to walk away from the play centre and heading towards the clothes section.

"That was Morgan. He called to say they were finishing up at the station and wanted to meet up for dinner. I told him about Spencer's foot and we think that it's better if we buy take outs and eat in our room at the hotel."

Seeing that Spencer was about to protest, he quickly continued. "Besides, we need to talk about the case so it's better to do in private." Hotch fibbed hoping that it won't make Spencer guilty more than he already is.

"We should get going now because we still need to buy a few things before going back to the hotel." JJ spoke up.

"And as I recalled, I promised certain someone that he can have two ice creams, didn't I? But that had to wait after we buy you clothes, okay buddy?" that sentence was followed by a happy shout and enthusiastic nods from the young boy. Seeing him looked happy again made them forget temporarily about his injury.

"Do you need me to take him?" Hotch asked fearing that JJ would get tired from carrying Spencer most of the evening.

"No, its okay. I've got him Hotch." Hotch knew that JJ was still bothered with the fact that Spencer had gotten injured again. So he just let her has her way and before long, they finally arrived at the children's clothing section. Their priority is to find Pyjamas so scanning around, they found the one they were looking for.

"Go on, buddy. Choose the one you like." Hotch encouraged the young boy.

Spencer looked around all the available patterns deep in thought before finally, his small hand shot out and grabbed the one with a star wars pattern. It turns out to be a footie pyjama so he quickly put it back down after realizing it. Footie pyjamas are for babies, his mind supplied.

"No, sweetie. I think that its a good idea. You don't have socks to put on in case your feet get cold. So lets take this one, okay? We just need to find the right size for you." Spencer had no choice but to agree with her. He felt compelled to not argue with her since he still felt bad for making her worry earlier.

Hotch tried to help as JJ got her hand full of Spencer. He rummaged through the folded clothes looking for the correct sizes.

"This one says for 30-36 months." Hotch said as he held out the clothing for them to see. JJ make a quick measuring and realizing that it was slightly bigger for Spencer.

"Try to find 18-24 months." She whispered softly to Hotch hoping that Spencer will not hear but her prayer went unanswered as he quickly protested.

"Hey! I am not 2, JJ. Sorry, I mean mommy..." Spencer still wasn't used to calling them other than Hotch or JJ, but at least he was learning.

"I know buddy. But we need to find the cloth that fit you, not Morgan. Can you imagine Morgan in this? Garcia will have a heart attack in a second," That got Spencer forgetting about the previous argument as he snickered at the joke. JJ looked at Hotch gratefully for the distraction before mouthing the word, 'thank you', in which he just smiled.

While at it, they decided to buy some new shirts and shorts for the boy because it never hurt to buy children more clothes. And before they went to pay at the register, Hotch secretly slipped a pack of pull ups while JJ was in charge of taking him far away from the register. They did not want to deal with another argument with the young boy.

* * *

After that, they stopped at the food court to buy Spencer his promised TWO ice creams and the dinner for the team. Spencer was practically vibrating in happiness when they were walking towards their car.

"Did you know dat ice tream headaches or what would most people wefew(refer) as 'bwain fweeze (brain freeze)' is the wesult of the nerve endings in the woof(roof) of your mouth sending a message to youw bwain of the loss of heat? So, if you can avoid the ice tream fwom touching the woof of the mouth, you won't get bwain fweeze."

Spencer continued to sprout off different facts about ice creams all the way to the car and JJ and Hotch just let him. They were not about to ruin his happy mood but they noticed that by time, his words were getting slower and slower. The sugar rush might be wearing off, which is good because he did not give them any trouble when putting him back in the carrier for the drive back to their hotel.


	9. Chapter 9

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

Spencer continued to sprout off different facts about ice creams all the way to the car and JJ and Hotch just let him. They were not about to ruin his happy mood but they noticed that by time, his words were getting slower and slower. The sugar rush might be wearing off, which is good because he did not give them any trouble when putting him back in the carrier for the drive back to their hotel.

* * *

When they entered the parking lot of the hotel, they saw the other car that Morgan, Rossi and Emily used was already parked so they must have been waiting for them in the room. Hotch turned to JJ and Spencer who got strangely quiet during the car ride...again!

"He truly fell asleep this time." JJ answered already knowing the question that Hotch was going to ask.

"hmmm, I just hope that he will stay asleep until we get to the room. After then I won't guarantee anything. With Morgan and Emily, I am afraid he won't be asleep much longer. Do you want me to get this carrier off?"

"No, I think its better to go up like this. He looks comfortable and I feel like I am hugging a koala bear." JJ snickered causing Hotch to smirk. That is one way of describing it.

Hotch got out of the car first before he went to the opposite side to open JJ's door for her and helped her on her feet slowly to avoid waking the sleeping boy. Then he went to gather all the things that they bought at the mall before and after making sure that they did not leave anything behind, they made their way to their room.

* * *

Morgan, Rossi and Emily were lazing around the room waiting for Hotch, JJ and Spencer. The room that they were given were pretty big and comfortable even if they had to share. From the door, you could see a small living room with sofa and tv and small coffee table and to the right, there was a small pantry and to the left, there was a door leading to the bedroom and bathroom.

After they finished their work at the station, they went back to the hotel and had the opportunity to shower and change their clothes before going to Hotch's room to wait for the others. They just sat on the sofa watching some Korean show called 'Running Man'. They had no idea what the show was actually about but it was pretty funny and that was enough for them to relax their mind and body.

Suddenly they heard knocks came from the door. Rossi, who were the closest to the door, silently got up from the sofa and went to open the door. Just as he expected, he came face to face with JJ who was cuddling a sleeping Spencer in the carrier, and Hotch, who was carrying so many plastic bags in his hands. Taking pity on his friend, he quickly took some of them from him, to which Hotch was grateful.

Then they made their way inside. Hotch and Rossi headed straight to the dining table to sort out all the take outs boxes and plastics while JJ went to the living room where Morgan and Emily were laughing while watching the tv. She quickly held a finger in front of her mouth signalling them to be quiet, while pointing to the sleeping boy.

"Man, pretty boy is asleep. We were waiting to 'play' with him." Morgan complained but at the same time, he lowered down the volume of the tv, so that it won't wake his little brother.

"No playing. His foot is injured, remember?" JJ reminded them.

"Oh yeah, forgot about them. How's his foot? Is he hurting?" Emily asked as she touched the bandaged foot gently.

"No, thankfully he is not in any pain. The doctor said he will be okay after a day or two with proper rest." JJ explained as she sat down slowly so that the movement would not wake the sleeping boy but unfortunately she failed, as she heard a moan came from the waking boy and a tiny fist came knuckling his eyes.

"Wow, he looks so cute hanging on your body like that. Can I try the carrier?" Emily gushed out. Upon hearing the words, Spencer unconsciously gripped JJ's shirt tighter as he stared at Morgan and Emily from his comfortable position.

"Ohh, it looks like pretty boy only wants his mommy." Morgan teased.

"Stop it, Morgan. He just woke up. Cut the little guy some slack. Since you were being so mature, you can go help 'daddy' with the take outs." JJ fired back, causing Emily and Spencer to giggle at Morgan, who just grumbled under his breath but did as he was told.

"Can I go out of this yet?" Spencer asked after Morgan was gone.

"You don't want to sleep some more handsome?" Emily asked as he shook his head.

"No more sleeping. It's almost time for dinner anyway. He can sleep after dinner. Em, help me get this thing off." Emily got up from her position and moved behind JJ to unfasten the safety buckle. With few more movement, they were able to free Spencer from the carrier. Oddly, even after the carrier was removed, the young boy remained slumped on JJ's front and not moving an inch except to knuckle his eyes. 'Might still be sleepy.' JJ concluded so she just leaves him be while she talked to Emily until Rossi came to get them for dinner.

"Dinner is ready. Morgan said Spencer had woken up, is he not?" Rossi came to the living room to get them for dinner before it gets cold.

"He's awake, but still sleepy." Emily answered. Upon hearing his name, Spencer raised his head and turned to Rossi. Knowing that he wasn't allowed to walk because of his sprained ankle, he climbed down from JJ's lap and crawl towards the edge of the couch before raising both his arms toward Rossi and with a barely heard, soft voice, he said "up".

Rossi just grinned at the little boy before picking him up and his grin got bigger when Spencer laid his head on his shoulder. "I've got you kiddo." He softly said to the small boy as he carried him to the dining table, where Morgan and Hotch were waiting.

Emily and JJ just looked at each other and smiled before they too followed the youngest and oldest members to the dining table. JJ made sure that Spencer had everything that he needed before she took a seat next to him and started eating, all the time keeping an eye on him. While they were eating, they talked about the progress of their case.

They were too absorbed talking about the case that they kind of lost track of time. They were startled when they suddenly heard the sound of the fork falling down on the floor. They turned to the source of the sound and were met with the sight of Spencer nodding off in his seat.

When JJ saw that his head almost hit the edge of the table, she quickly scooped him up into her laps as his head rolled on her arms. Hotch then got up and walked over to his surrogate son and carefully took him from JJ.

"Excuse me for a minute. I need to get him ready for bed. I will join you guys again after he is settled in his bed." Hotch said as he headed towards the bathroom to do just that.

"Alright then. Let's clean up here while waiting for Hotch." Rossi ordered as he got up and start picking up all the empty boxes to be thrown away as Morgan and Emily joined him.

"While you guys do that, I will go and lay out Spence's pyjamas for the night." JJ said as she got up and headed towards the bed, where the plastic bag containing the pyjamas that they bought previously was located.

"Sure, JJ. Just make sure to kiss Hotch goodnight before you go. Errr, I mean Spencer." Emily said as she smirked, causing JJ to stop on the way to bed for a few seconds before she decided that she did not want to argue with them so she just huffed and walked ahead without looking back.

After she was gone, Morgan grinned as he held out his fist to Emily, who bumped hers with it.

"Nice one, princess."

"You guys are so childish. Sometimes, I wonder why I am working with you guys. And till this day, I still have not found the answer." Rossi pretended to sigh.

"Come on, Rossi. We love you too. You can't say honestly say that you have not seen how JJ and Hotch were dancing with their feelings all this time. They almost make me want to bomb the place with their UST."

"What is UST?"

"Unresolved Sexual Tension." Both Morgan and Emily answered at the same time before they looked at each other and laughed and after a while, even Rossi could not help it as he joined them in their teasing.

* * *

JJ could hear them laughing all the way from the bedroom. She shook her head, knowing that she will be wasting her breath if she tried to tell them to stop. They are unstoppable. Sometimes she felt like they were the same age with Spencer. She just hoped that their laughter would not disturb her Spence who needs his sleep.

Just as she finished laying the button down pyjamas on the bed and opened all the buttons so that it will be easier to be put on, the bathroom door opens and Hotch emerged from there carrying a sleeping Spencer wrapped in a towel.

"Wow, that must a record! World's fastest bath ever." JJ said as she grabbed for another extra towel and held it open for Spencer.

"Yeah. He can't seem to open his eyes any longer so I have to make it real quick. It's a good thing that his bandage is water proofed." Hotch whispered as he deposited the wet boy on JJ's lap. During that moment, Spencer sneaked open his eyes lazily when he felt he was transferred to someone else's lap who he was sure not Hotch. He felt relieved when he saw JJ.

"Ti'ed, mommy." Spencer mumbled sleepily. He was so sleepy that he did not noticed JJ stopped in her ministration of towelling him, but that pause did not go unnoticed by Hotch.

"I know, sweetie. Just go to sleep. Mommy got you." JJ said as she proceeded to dry him quickly before dressing him in his pull ups then pjs and positioned him properly before she tucked a blanket around him. She made sure that he was comfortable, with his injured leg propped up using a pillow before kissing his forehead and patting him while humming softly. Even after she was sure that he was already sleeping, her hand did not stop patting him.

"I guess you felt it too huh?" Hotch's sudden question startled her.

"What do you mean?" JJ whispered back in a low voice.

"I noticed you stop for a second when he calls you mommy. So I guess you felt the same thrill and touched that I felt when he calls me daddy." Hotch explained.

"It's just that I always heard people always talk about how being a mother is the greatest feeling in the world. And with the rate I'm going now, I don't think I will ever experience that feeling. But suddenly now I have a two years old calling me mommy and I can't even express the feeling that I have now. It is as if my heart wants to burst with pride, joy, happiness, if that is even possible."

"I feel you, JJ. Now lets go back to them and finish our discussion so that we can catch this SOB quickly and takes him back home and spoil him with everything." Hotch said as he turned and headed towards the dining room, where his other teams were waiting and with one last kiss to Spencer's forehead and a 'sweet dream, son' JJ got up to do the same.

"Hotch? If Morgan and Emily are smirking at us when we gets back, can you put them in a time out?"

"Huh? Why?" Hotch was genuinely confused by JJ's question.

"Nothing. Forget about it." JJ dismissed quickly as they finally arrived at the living room where true enough, Morgan and Emily were smirking at them while Rossi looked very much like he had given up on trying to ask them to behave.

"Lets' continue."Hotch ordered oblivious to the situation.


	10. Chapter 10

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

"Hotch? If Morgan and Emily are smirking at us when we gets back, can you put them in a time out?"

"Huh? Why?" Hotch was genuinely confused by JJ's question.

"Nothing. Forget about it." JJ dismissed quickly as they finally arrived at the living room where true enough, Morgan and Emily were smirking at them while Rossi looked very much like he had given up on trying to ask them to behave.

"Lets' continue."Hotch ordered oblivious to the situation.

* * *

The next morning, when they entered the police station, they instantly knew that something had happened. The tension around the room was so thick that they almost suffocate. All the officers looked aghast, somehow.

"JJ, take Spencer to the room. I will talk with the sheriff Adam and fill you in later." Hotch said as he passed Spencer to her. After JJ had disappeared into the other room, they headed towards the sheriff's office. After knocking and receiving the order to come in, they opened the door and saw the sheriff was pacing behind his desk and there was another male officer sitting in the chair opposite to the sheriff and he appeared to be crying.

"Agent Hotchner. There is another child went missing less than an hour ago. Lindsey Ralph, 8 years old was taken on her way to school just now and she... she is officer Ralph's daughter." Sheriff Adam said as he gestured to the man sitting in front of him sadly.

"My daughter. She is only 8. Please... can you find her, agents? Please find my daughter. She's all I ever had." Officer Ralph begged them as he tried his hardest to hold back the tears.

"I promise you sir, we will do everything that we can. In the meantime, we need to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind." Hotch said.

"Anything. I will do anything if it means that I can get my baby back." Satisfied with his answer, Hotch nodded to Emily who understood his order without having to voice it out.

"This way, sir." Emily led the distraught officer to another room to interview him.

"The town is in panic. They are scared to send their children to school. I knew Lindsey since she was in diapers. I can't believe she got caught by the killer." Sheriff whispered brokenly as she gave them the picture of the girl.

"I'm sorry for your loss. Sheriff, can you take us to the abduction site? We need to interview the neighbors. They might have seen something." Hotch asked and when the sheriff nodded.

"Of course. I will meet you at the front in 5 minutes." After being dismissed, the 3 of them headed to the room where JJ and Spencer was staring at the case board, thinking. JJ immediately got up when they entered.

"What happen?"

"Another girl got taken on the way to the school this morning." Rossi said as he went to the case board and put the picture on the board and underneath it, he wrote, 'Lindsey Ralph -8'

"Morgan, you and I are going to the abduction site to interview the neighbour. JJ, I want you to arrange a press conference this afternoon, we need to warn the community, and right now Prentiss is interviewing the father and the mother will come in soon so I need you to help Prentiss. Rossi, the case files that the officers used to work on have already arrived and I want you to go through them with Spencer. Ask Garcia to send also the case files for Officer Ralph." Hotch ordered.

"On it." JJ answered as she went out of the room.

Rossi saw the 4 boxes containing the files that Hotch mentioned. He slowly brought them to the table. Knowing that Spencer was able to read way faster than him, he put 3 boxes next to him while he took 1 box to himself and smirked when he heard Spencer groaned.

"Hey, it's only fair, kiddo. You can read faster than I can." Rossi reasoned. Hotch walked towards Spencer and helped open the boxes and made it easier for the small boy to access the case files.

"Spencer, try to find cases that has similar MO to this one. Cases that involve children either killed or kidnapped in malls. But make sure that other officers don't see you reading the case files okay? Remember, you have to act like a child in front of them. And make sure you behave okay?" Hotch said as he pat his back, resisting the urge to give him a hug, thinking that his 'son' would not appreciate it in the public.

"Yes, sir. Don't wowwy, sir." Spencer responded with determination that a 2 years old possess resulting on him only appear cuter. Hotch and Morgan chuckled at the sight as they left the room.

* * *

After lunch, Spencer was almost finished with his stack of boxes. He already cleared 2 boxes and was down to few files in his last box. On the table, in front of him, were a couple of files that he had separated earlier since it was similar to the methodology to the case that they were currently investigating.

Hotch, Rossi, Morgan and Emily were at the school interviewing the teachers and students there, leaving him with JJ, who was preparing for the press conference that was scheduled in less than an hour.

"Come on Spence, let's take a break, okay? You need to sleep for a while. I can see how tired you are so don't try to deny it." JJ said for umpteenth times in the last hour. Her surrogate 'son' was being stubborn and refused to take a nap, even though it was more than obvious how sleepy he is with the way he kept yawning every minute and knuckling his eyes. No matter what JJ did or said he would not budge from his position at all.

"No, mommy. I need to finish weading the files." Spencer protested as he tried to suppress his yawning but to no avail. He did not want to take a break when the life of another girl was at stake. He had the advantage of reading faster than any his team members and he was going to use it to catch this unsub.

Before JJ could say anything, they were startled when the door was suddenly opened. Spencer was prepared to duck and hid beneath the table because a toddler should not be seen reading case files but when he realized it was only Hotch, he stopped his motion and let out a relieved breath.

Hotch grinned upon knowing what he was about to do. Then his grin quickly turned to a frown when he realized how tired his son look with tears brimming in his eyes, from all the yawning that he did. He sighed, knowing how stubborn Spencer can get when it was nap time, and then he glanced towards his supposed to be 'wife' with questioning look.

"He refuses to take a nap. I kept telling him to take a break but he won't listen." JJ grumbled from her position, next to him, ignoring Spencer glaring at her for telling on him. She knew that if there was someone who could make Spencer takes a nap, then that person would be none other than Hotch.

"Come on buddy, I can finish the files for you. Do you want me to warm up the milk for you?" Milk was one of the efforts that they tried to get him to take a nap. For some unknown reason, Spencer tended to get sleepy after drinking warmed milk with sugar added. It was not the formula milk used for babies but normal plain white milk, available at any groceries stores.

"But daddy, thewe awe *yawn* only some left. Let me finish it first." Spencer whined.

"10 minutes only, buddy. After 10 minutes, I will go and warm up your milk, you will drink it and go to sleep. Understand?" Hotch's voice leave no room for argument, causing Spencer to pout cutely. "Otay, daddy."

Satisfied with the answer, Hotch sat down on the chair opposite to him and pretended to do his work while in reality, he and JJ were keeping an eye on their stubborn 'son' at the same time waiting for the 10 minutes to be over.

* * *

Not even 2 minutes later, both of them were startled when a loud thump could be heard followed by a pained yelp. Looking over, they saw Spencer with both of his hand covering his forehead as he tried his hardest not to cry out in pain. JJ, who was the closest to him, was quick to act. She immediately let go of the pen and paper that she was holding and stood up before reaching over to scoop him up.

Analyzing the situation, she realized that Spencer must have been nodding off and hit the edge of the table accidentally. Cursing herself for not watching him properly, she tried to remove his hand from his forehead to check for the injury. Spencer whimpered pitifully when she gently touched the red bump forming on his forehead.

"Is he okay?" Hotch's voice made her realized that he was standing right behind them. He must have gotten up and run towards them because there was no way he would have made there that quick. When Spencer started to cry due to the pain in his forehead, she gently turned him over and enveloped him in an embrace, being careful with his injury. She softly pat his back while repeating the words 'it's okay. You are okay.' Hotch could not decide whether she was assuring Spencer or herself.

"Yeah. It was just a bump." JJ answered as Spencer buried his face in her chest to muffle his cry. Knowing that he was not going to let go of her anytime soon, JJ gestured towards Spencer's diaper bag (arrived from Quantico that morning) on the couch, where his milk located. "Do you mind?" she whispered while still trying to calm the wailing boy.

Understanding her meaning, Hotch walked over to the bag and after rummaging around, he finally found what he was looking for : milk in small carton and a Mickey sippy cup that belonged to Spencer, a gift from Emily . He then headed towards the pantry outside and was grateful to find it deserted.

He quickly set to complete his task. Grabbing a mug, he carefully opened the carton and emptied the milk into the mug then he added a spoonful of sugar only, as requested by JJ. He remembered her saying, no more than a spoon if you want to avoid the trip to a paediatric dentist anytime soon. After stirring it, he popped the mug into the microwave and waited. When the ding sound was heard, he opened the microwave and carefully poured the warm milk into the sippy cup that he brought with him. He then put the used mug into the dishwasher and made his way back to the room, where his 'son' and 'wife' were waiting.

When he got back, he saw that they were still in the same position when he left them and Spencer was no longer wailing but there were still tears in his eyes as JJ was still patting his back. As if he had done it a million times before, he grabbed a small towel from the diaper bag and slung it across his left shoulder before taking his seat in the chair that Spencer used to sit.

"Give him to me. I can put him to sleep. You need to get going if you want to make it to the press conference on time." Hotch held out his arm for the boy. "Are you sure?" JJ asked while looking at his suit. It's not that she doubted Hotch can put the boy to sleep because she had seen countless of times Spencer asleep with Hotch. It's just that he was wearing a suit that he usually wore on the job and she knew how difficult it is to remove milk stain from a suit.

Knowing why she was worried. Hotch set out to remove his suit and draped it across the nearby chair before holding out his hand again and JJ then deposited Spencer across his lap with his head nestled on the crook of his left elbow. With his right hand, Hotch quickly took the sippy cup and guided the tip to Spencer's mouth, who quickly latched onto it and started to sip with all his worth.

"Easy there, buddy. The milk won't go anywhere so drink slowly okay?" Hotch continued to whisper to his 'son', while at the same time he grabbed the previous small towel and positioned it beneath Spencer's right cheek and chin so that any spilled milk will be caught on the towel. Satisfied with it, he then pat Spencer's bottom softly and unconsciously started to hum while he looked at the files that Spencer was working on, especially the one that he had already separated.

JJ could not help the proud feeling that she felt when watching the interaction between her 'husband' and 'son'. For someone who never had any children before, they both really knew how to handle Spencer well. Maybe it was because Spencer was actually an adult that made their job easier. But there were also times when Spencer would act like a child his size and they knew what need to be done as if that was the most natural thing in the world like right now, JJ contemplated as she continued to stare at them and saw that Spencer's eyes were slowly closing, then seconds later when he realized that he actually closed his eyes, he would force them back open and after a while, his eyes would be dropped back close and this movement continue several times until a few minutes later, he finally succumbed to sleep. JJ snickered softly. Even in his sleep, Spence could be so stubborn. What she did not realize was that while she was lost in thought, Hotch was watching her.

"I know that the sight of me cuddling our 'son' is an attractive view but don't forget you have a press conference to get to so you can't keep staring at us all day." Hotch's voice startled her. When his words dawned on her, her face turned red. She then heard Hotch laughing and instantly knew that he was teasing her... again. Muttering under her breath and swearing that he was going to pay for his teasing, JJ then started to gather her things from the table and putting them in her bag.

She then saw a box of cookies and juice in her bag that she had bought during the lunch for Spencer to snack on after his nap. Taking it out of the bag, she put them on the coffee table next to the couch. She then reached for Spencer's pillow and blanket from his diaper bag and laid them out on the couch. Knowing that he was still not allowed any toys, JJ ignored the stuffed animal that Garcia had packed for Spencer.

"This cookie and juice is for Spencer's snack. I will leave them on the coffee table so that he can eat them when he wakes up. If you need to leave and the others are still not back yet, just put him on the couch. Make sure you lay him on his stomach, he sleeps better that way and don't forget to wrap him in the blanket. The pillow is to prop his feet. I still don't know how long I will be gone but I will try to get back as quickly as I can so that he won't be alone. But I am sure Emily and the others won't be too long from now but just in case, I am going to ask Officer Kate outside to look out for him and call me if he wakes up so that he won't be too scared waking up alone. And if he got thirsty, he can ..." JJ stopped in her rambling when she noticed that Hotch was staring at her with amusement clear in his face.

"What?"

"You worry too much. You do realize that he is not really a baby, right? He will be just fine here. Besides, if you go out, you can see that a lot of the officers have brought their children to the station because they think it was safer for them here than at home, after Lindsey was taken this morning. So that means, you don't have to worry about Spencer being here." Hotch reassured her.

"I knew but...it has never been easy to leave him before and it wasn't about to start now." JJ replied back as he walked over towards the other two. Leaning down, she softly grasped the sippy cup and pulled it away from the slumbering boy. Even with eyes closed, Spencer's hand moved upwards as if to take back the cup but he stopped when JJ shushed him back to sleep.

Carefully, JJ kissed him on the forehead and after a moment of hesitation, she turned sideways and gave Hotch a peck on the cheek before immediately rushed to the door and went out, leaving Hotch dumbfounded. After a while of staring at the door, he just shook his head and continued to read the files in front of him but all the time, the smile never left his face.


	11. Chapter 11

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

Carefully, JJ kissed him on the forehead and after a moment of hesitation, she turned sideways and gave Hotch a peck on the cheek before immediately rushed to the door and went out, leaving Hotch dumbfounded. After a while of staring at the door, he just shook his head and continued to read the files in front of him but all the time, the smile never left his face.

* * *

By the time JJ got back to the station, 2 hours has passed. She just received a message from Hotch saying that he needs to go out and had to leave while Spencer was still asleep. He even sent her a picture of him sleeping cocooned in his blanket. It was so cute that she could not resist setting it as her wallpaper in her phone.

She walked as fast as she can through the police station, eager to get to Spencer. Even when she greeted the police officers and their children that she met on her way, all she could think about was her Spence.

Before her hand could grab the door handle, the door itself opened to reveal two boys coming out of the room. Obviously, they were related to each other. JJ was confused as to why they were coming out from that room and they looked shocked, almost to the point of afraid to see her there. Both of them appear to be 8 and 6 years old.

"Well, hello there. Did you come from playing with my son, Spencer in there?" JJ's smile turned to frown when she noticed they were fidgeting in front of her.

"Errr... yes ma'am. We were just leaving. Our dad must have been... looking ...for us." Then they just ran from there, leaving JJ puzzled with their behaviour.

She then proceed to open the door and saw Spencer sitting up on the couch, like he had just woken up. He looked kind of troubled with a faraway look on his face. That look was quickly broken when he saw her coming in, as he tried to make a run for her. JJ realized that he was about to jump of the couch, immediately stopped his effort. With an amazing speed that she did not know she possessed, she crossed the room to where Spencer was and immediately picked him up.

"No Spence, you can't put weight on your feet just yet." JJ softly chastised him. The only respond that she got was him burying his face in her neck and tiny arms were wrapped around her. For some unknown reason, he was trembling and she could not figure out why. She looked around the room to search for the possible reason but nothing stood out. She then took a seat on the couch and positioned him on her lap.

"I see that you have finished your snacks. Do you want some more?" JJ asked as she attempted to distract him but she didn't receive any answer from him. She was desperate to ask if he was okay but knew that he was not going to answer her. The small boy remained clingy to her, as she took the opportunity to clean up the table and his sleeping place and times past by in silence as Spencer refused to talk or acknowledge her but at the same time would not let go of her.

"Hey, The team are ready to give the profile and Hotch requested your presence outside."Emily said as she stood in front of the opened door.

"Hey, Em. We didn't notice you guys are back already." JJ replied.

"Yeah, We just got back and were talking to sheriff Adam and we have new lead and Hotch wants to give the profile now and he wants you there. Is everything okay?" Emily explained as she walked towards them. She too, could see how frightened Spencer looked. JJ realized that Hotch was waiting for her but at the same time, Spencer will not want to be left alone, so there was only one thing that she could do.

"Nothing is wrong. Could you watch him for a while?" JJ asked Emily to which she nodded her head. Then she turned to the small boy in her arms. "Sweetie, Hotch wants to see me, but Emily will sit here with you, okay? I will be right outside if you need me." JJ waited to see his reaction to her idea, and fortunately, he did not put up any fight. He let go of her neck and reached for Emily instead. Emily quickly took him from JJ and wrapped him in her embrace.

"It's okay, handsome. Let's sit here and I have a video that I want to show you. You will love it, I swear." Emily gushed out ah she reached for her phone in her pocket and then she was pushing some buttons. Both her and Spencer's attention was focused on the screen of the phone when JJ quietly sneaked out from the room so that none of them notice her leaving.

* * *

Based on their profile and combined with the help from the local officers, they managed to narrow down their suspects to 5 people ; Ben Kimberly, Richard Cook, Michael Burdock, Jason Hampton, and Luke Wayne. Hotch then asked Garcia to do a background check on those 5 people to see which one of them has any connection with the victims. They also ask the local officers to look out for all 5 of them.

After giving their profile to the police officers, they made their way back to the room. From outside the door, they could hear the sound of laughter of Emily and Spencer. True enough, when they opened the door, they saw Spencer on Emily's lap and they were both watching a video in Emily's phone and were laughing. JJ felt relieved to see Spencer was back to his happy self again.

"What are you watching, pretty boy? Mind if I watch it too?" Morgan interrupted their moment.

"Tome tuick, Emily found a video on youtube bout animals funniest videos. Thewe was this video whewe the ownew pointed a watew gun to his cat and said 'fweeze' and the cat actually waised its paws and stood still. You have to watch it. Wossi, tome look." Spencer excitedly explained.

Before long, Rossi and Morgan each took a seat on either side of Emily and not even seconds later, all of them were laughing leaving Hotch and JJ to watch them from the doorway. They could not help the smile on their face. Sometimes they felt more like a family than co-workers.

"Mommy, daddy, tome and see." Spencer's little voice brought them out of their daydream as the rest of the them were watching them, waiting for the couple to join them on the couch, in which they did just that and all the stress from the day eventually fade away.

* * *

The next morning, around 7, JJ made her way to the hotel room where Spencer and Hotch were staying. Spencer's bandage on his feet can be taken off this morning and Spencer requested her help saying that she was gentler than Hotch. The scandalised look on Hotch's face when he heard him made the others laughed so hard.

But nevertheless, she intend to keep her promises so she wake up early and got ready before waking up Emily to tell her that she was going to Spencer's room. Even if she just woke up and was still a bit dazed, Emily could not pass the opportunity to tease JJ about it, in which JJ just ignored her and got out of the room and headed towards Hotch's room which was two doors down the hall. She knocked and waited for Hotch to open the door seconds later. By the look of it, he was getting ready for a shower.

"Come in, Spencer was still asleep. Would you mind wake him up? I want to shower before I got him ready." Hotch made way for JJ to enter. JJ headed straight towards the bed where Spencer was sleeping peacefully. When she got near him, she was surprised to see him sleeping on his side, cuddling his stuffed bear.

"I guess the no toys punishment is already over." JJ commented.

"He has been a good boy the last few days. Besides, I feel guilty of having to leave him at the station and I think it will be better if he has his toys with him." Hotch explained just before he entered the bathroom and closed the door.

JJ was in no rush to wake her 'son' knowing that she still got some time until Hotch finished with his shower. She looked around the room and she could not help but noticed that the other bed was perfectly made as if no one was using it last night, so that means that Hotch put Spencer in his bed with him. JJ giggled at that thought as she laid down next to the slumbering toddler and rubbed his back slowly, trying to rouse him from his sleep.

"Spence, wakey wakey..." she said in a sing song voice. Spencer just scrunched up his face and turned the other way around, facing away from her. JJ stifled a laugh and turned him back around facing her.

"Come on, sweetie. It's morning already. Time to wake up." JJ tried again. Spencer sneaked open one eye and saw his surrogate mother lying next to him. Without thinking much, he climbed on top of her and after finding a comfortable position, he let out a content sigh and closed his eyes again. This time JJ did let out a laugh at his cute action.

"No you don't, sweetie. Open those beautiful eyes again." JJ bounced him a little. After a few more coaxing, he did open his eyes with so much difficulty. JJ noticed that he was not completely awake yet so she tried to engage him in conversations hoping that would make him more alert. Then she slowly started to undress him, getting him ready for his bath. She stripped him from his pyjama pants and shirts leaving him in nothing but pull ups and bandage on his feet. Suddenly her hands stopped moving in her attempt to unwrap the bandage when she noticed a few bruises on his upper arms and she could have sworn that it was not there two nights before so that must have mean he got it yesterday. Before she could ask him from where did the bruise come from, the door to the bathroom opened and Hotch came out of it wearing a suit pants with a long-sleeved button down blue shirts.

"I already prepare the water in the tub, buddy. Let's put you in the tub then I will give you five minutes to wash before I came and take you out okay, buddy?" Hotch leaned down to pick him up from the bed and heading to the bathroom. After removing his pull ups, he gently deposited him in the tub and gave him a washcloth to wash himself. He made sure to put everything that Spencer might need within his reach before going back out.

"Hotch, I noticed some marks on his upper arms and I think he might have gotten them yesterday. Did you know something about it?" JJ asked as she moved to put away his pyjamas and take out his clothes for today.

"Marks? As in bruising? How did he get it? As far as I know he only hurt his forehead yesterday, not his arm."

"That is what I am trying to figure out. You didn't see it when you changed him for bed yesterday?"

"No. He insisted to dress himself for bed and I let him. Maybe he fell down in his sleep?"

"I am not sure but I don't think he will answer if we ask."

"Yes, you know how he is. Speaking of him, I better go and retrieve him. He tend to get carried away seeing as how much he loves to play with water." Hotch said before going back to the bathroom. JJ had just finish putting a red t-shirt, blue jeans, underwear and socks on the bed when Hotch came out carrying a shivering Spencer and put him on the bed, before he himself took a seat next to him. Together, JJ and Hotch work together to dress the boy who kept jumping around on the bed.

Hotch shook his head as he saw how active his son was this morning. They were having a hard time to ask him to sit still but he kept jumping around after they finished putting on his clothes. He had already given up and left the task of getting their 'son' ready to the capable hands of his 'wife'. He decided that he might as well finish getting ready to leave to the station.

"Come here Spence. I need to brush your hair." JJ called from the edge of the bed as she stood there with a hairbrush in her hand. Spencer stopped jumping just enough for JJ to brush his hair before he resumed back to jumping on the bed. JJ just sighed as she began putting back all the supplies into the diaper bag, after a quick advice of 'be careful'.

Seeing Hotch was putting on his tie, suddenly JJ got great idea for revenge. Determined to put her plan into action, she quickly walked to stand in front of Hotch. She was so close to him that he could felt her breath on his neck and causing his hand to stop and his heart to accelerate. Taking advantage of his hiatus, JJ gently removed his hand from the tie and let his hand fall awkwardly at his side. She then took hold of the item and proceeded to fasten it properly, while taking her sweet time. After completed it, she brush nonexistent wrinkle from his suit and leaned up on her toes to whisper teasingly, "Now, you look hot, darling."

"Wut bout me? Do I loot hot too?" Spencer's question pulled them out of their trance. He jumped towards them. Seeing that he was about to jump on them, JJ turned just in time to catch him.

"Oooof, Spencer, Didn't I just tell you to be careful?"

"Sowwy. You didn't answew my question. Do I loot hot lite daddy?"

"Of course, sweetie. Morgan would be so jealous of you. In fact, lets go and show Morgan right now." JJ said as she carefully balanced him on her hip and headed toward the door.

"We'll meet you at the car. Don't forget his bag. I already packed all his things." JJ instructed before exiting the room with an excited Spencer giving room for Hotch to finish getting ready.


	12. Chapter 12

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

Seeing Hotch was putting on his tie, suddenly JJ got great idea for revenge. Determined to put her plan into action, she quickly walked to stand in front of Hotch. She was so close to him that he could felt her breath on his neck and causing his hand to stop and his heart to accelerate. Taking advantage of his hiatus, JJ gently removed his hand from the tie and let his hand fall awkwardly at his side. She then took hold of the item and proceeded to fasten it properly, while taking her sweet time. After completed it, she brush nonexistent wrinkle from his suit and leaned up on her toes to whisper teasingly, "Now, you look hot, darling."

"Wut bout me? Do I loot hot too?" Spencer's question pulled them out of their trance. He jumped towards them. Seeing that he was about to jump on them, JJ turned just in time to catch him.

"Oooof, Spencer, Didn't I just tell you to be careful?"

"Sowwy. You didn't answew my question. Do I loot hot lite daddy?"

"Of course, sweetie. Morgan would be so jealous of you. In fact, lets go and show Morgan right now." JJ said as she carefully balanced him on her hip and headed toward the door.

"We'll meet you at the car. Don't forget his bag. I already packed all his things." JJ instructed before exiting the room with an excited Spencer giving room for Hotch to finish getting ready.

* * *

By afternoon, a parcel was sent to the station, with the words 'FBI' written on the top of the parcel. Hotch quickly opened the parcel inside it contained a few things such as children's watches, bracelets and hairclips. They quickly confirmed with the family victims that the things belonged to the dead children.

"Why would the unsub sent us the souvenirs they took from his victims?" -Morgan

"Remorse maybe?" -Emily

"No, I don't think it was remorse. If that is the case, he would have release Lindsey." –Rossi

"I think this is his way of taunting us. Did you know who sent the parcel?" –Hotch

"Parcel was dropped at the front door and no one saw the sender." –Sheriff Adam.

"Morgan, ask Garcia to look at the surveillance camera to see the person who send this and ran the face through facial recognition software. I need the name ASAP." Hotch ordered before dismissed the team. Morgan nodded his head as he took out is phone and dialled Garcia.

Not even 20 minutes later, they finally got a name. It was one of their suspects, Michael Burdock. He was an ex-guard at the mall where the bodies were found. He used to have a daughter, Hannah who was 5 years old when she was murdered. He used to bring her with him to the mall while he was working when one day, she disappeared and when he made a report, the polices did not believe him and blame him for drinking on the job and losing his daughter, since they found trace of alcohol in his system.

After a few hours, his daughter's body was found in the dumpster behind the mall. Since then, he lose his job and his wife filed for divorce and he lost everything that he holds dear to his life. So this might be his revenge. They quickly asked for his living and working address from Garcia which she gladly gave to them, with simple message 'Go get them, crime fighter and bring my baby home swiftly.' They just shook their head and smiled already used to her behaviour.

When they arrived at Michael's house, they were relieved to know that they were not too late and were able to rescue Lindsey. She was dehydrated and fatigue but no injuries were found. The reunion between her and her parents at the hospital caused everyone to shed tears.

They quickly took Michael into custody but he refused to talk. They tried to get him to confess but all he did was sat in the interrogation room staring his cuffed hands. Morgan, Rossi and Emily watched through the mirror as Hotch interrogate him inside. JJ was trying to put Spencer down for his nap before she need to talk to the press.

Suddenly, Morgan's cell phone rang. He saw that the caller was none other than Garcia so he put it on loud speaker so Emily could talk too.

"Hey baby girl. We already arrested our guy thanks to you, my queen of expertise. We just need to wrap up here and then we will be on the jet home before you know it, so if you're calling to say that you miss me, you won't have to worry anymore." Morgan grinned.

"No, my chocolate thunder. That is not why I called you." Garcia's tone sounded mad causing the other's curiosity to rise.

"Did something happen?" Rossi asked.

" You know how Hotch asked me to go through the surveillance cameras at the police station to look for the unsub, in which I did and found because I am super like that. But then I realize that I have some free time at my hand while you guys go and kick some butt." Garcia started her story.

"Mama, don't tell me you did what I think you did."

"If you think what I did is go through other cameras at the station to watch my baby boy then yes, you are definitely right, my psychics mate. I can't help it, I miss my boy wonder so much and you guys don't send me enough pictures or videos of him which I specifically asked you to. So I was thinking, why not? No harm done and I only watch the one where my babies are. And I am glad that I did push the play button because I found something, which makes me angry now, arghhhh."

Not understanding what could possibly make her angry watching the surveillance camera, Emily quickly asked, "What did you found, Garcia?"

"I already sent the pictures to your tablets, Em. You can check it out. Urrrgggghhhh, I can't believe the nerves of them." Garcia continued to grumble as Emily show Morgan and Rossi the pictures that Garcia sent.

After looking at the first pictures, they finally understand why Garcia was so angry. The picture was taken inside the room that they were using at the station. It shows Spencer was sleeping on the couch while two boys were hovering over his sleeping form. The second picture shows them pulling on Spencer's arm and Spencer looked genuinely afraid of them. The third picture was worst, the 2 boys were munching on the snacks that JJ left for Spencer while he was huddled on the corner of the couch.

"Is this from yesterday when we were all out? Why didn't pretty boy say anything?"

"No wonder he was so quiet after his nap. You know how Spencer is. He will never say anything to appear weak." Emily blamed herself for not noticing anything yesterday.

"I recognized those two boys. They are the sons of Officer Max. He brought them here every day after school. I am going to have a talk with their father." Rossi groused.

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to send you the video because then you will want to kill them, which I know you will but then I don't want you to be arrested for that but I do want you to teach them not to mess with my baby genius anymore. Poor baby, he was so scared in the video. So, my knights with shiny FBI credentials and badges, please go save my innocence and delicate baby boy." Garcia ordered before she cut the call.

"Wait a minute, where is pretty boy right now?"

"Last I saw him was with JJ. She tried to put him down for his nap. I don't know if she succeed or not." Emily put down her tablet.

"Yeah, but wasn't JJ going to talk with the press right... about... now?" Rossi wondered as he looked at his expensive watch on his right wrist.

"You don't think pretty boy is sleeping alone in the room where the boys could harass him... again?" Morgan speculated out loud.

"We better go and check for ourselves." Rossi said as he led them towards the room. He opened the door and as they expected they saw the older boy was pulling on Spencer's arm and trying to pull his stuffed bear from his hold while the younger kid was eating his snacks. It was obvious that Spencer was woken up rudely from his nap. The two boys froze in their place at being caught red handed.

"What is going on here?" Rossi growled.

"Errrr... nothing sir. We were just playing. Right, kid?" The older one lied as he pushed Spencer to agree with him. They noticed that Spencer winced in pain when the boy pushed his arm.

"Heyy, stop it. You are hurting him. Take your hands off him." Emily ordered as she walked towards them. When they boy saw her approaching, he quickly let Spencer go. Emily quickly scooped Spencer up into her arms away from the bullies.

"I see you are eating his snacks and I don't think you ask first before you eat, did you?" Morgan asked as he stood in front of Emily protectively. He glanced back to see Emily checking Spencer for any injuries and was furious when he saw bruises on his arms, when Emily rolled up his sleeves. The boys just looked down and did not dare to speak at all, knowing that it was useless.

"Of course not. Go back to your father boys, I will be there soon to have a talk with your father." Rossi said causing the boys to look up and quickly shook their head with pleading look in their face.

"Please don't tell my father. He will ground us both." The older one begged.

"Well, you should have thought of that first before you hurt my brother. Now go before I show you the consequences of messing with my brother." Morgan threatened and the boys do just that. After they left, they quickly turned their attention to the whimpering boy in Emily's arm.

"Are you hurting anywhere else, handsome?" Emily asked as she took a seat on the couch to properly check on him while the guys surrounded them.

"No. Only my arm. You guys tame befowe he tould do anything mowe." Spencer assured but he did not fight when Emily and Morgan lifted his shirt and rolled his jeans to look for any injuries.

"Why didn't you say anything kiddo?" Rossi questioned softly.

"Betause I don't want to distuwb youw wowk. And I know you would weact like you awe now." Spencer sighed.

"Someone hurt our baby brother, of course we will be furious." Morgan grumbled.

"I'm otay Morgan. I am used to it alweady." Spencer confessed softly. Rossi saw that the boy was close to crying so he decided to act fast.

"Morgan, Emily, you don't have anything to do now, why don't you take Spencer to the diner across the street? Seeing that his snack is gone, you guys can eat something there." Rossi proposed.

"What about you, Rossi?"

"I need to have a talk with the officer Max first then I will join you guys later. Now, if you will excuse me," Rossi was already out of the door before they could say anything.

"Now come on, pretty boy. Why don't we go and order some banana split?" Morgan whispered to his brother, knowing how much he loves ice creams.

"Tan't. Hotch, I mean daddy said I Tan't have ice-cweams befowe dinnew." Spencer pouted.

"Well, it's a good thing that Hotch is not here, isn't it?" Morgan grinned and when Spencer got the idea, he beamed.

"Derek, you are going to get the boy in trouble if Hotch finds out." Emily tried to reason with them, as much as she likes to tease the young boy and watch him fidgeting, she really hates to see him in trouble especially with Hotch.

"Relax, Em. Don't be spoilsport. Besides, Hotch won't find out if nobody tells him. Right, kid?" Morgan turned to the boy.

"uhuh. That's wight. Tome on, we have to huwwy." Spencer urged them to move faster as he quickly slipped down to put on his shoes.

"You heard the kid. Tome on, Em. Huwwy." Spencer glared at Morgan knowing that the mispronunciation was deliberate and on purpose but his glare softened when Morgan bent down and helped him to put on his shoes properly. Then they both stood up and Morgan held out a hand to his brother and he was shocked when instead of grabbing his hand, they boy walked toward the end of the couch where his bag was located.

They were more shocked when he pulled the carrier all the way towards them and hand it to Emily. The thought of using the carrier to the diner had not crossed their mind at all since the one who usually use it was JJ only and they afraid he would not like it if someone else wants to use it but their thoughts were completely mistaken when the boy now stood in front of Emily holding the carrier to her.

"You want me to put it on?" Emily asked dumbfounded. Spencer nodded his head eagerly. Not believing what she's hearing but not wanting to argue at the same time, Emily put it on just like how she always saw JJ put it on. It took them longer than usual as it was the first time for Emily but nevertheless, a few minutes later, the three of them walked out of the station with the small boy strapped to Emily and they were all wearing a happy look.

"JJ's right. It did feel like I am hugging a living teddy bear."

They walked out of the parking lot and crossed the street carefully before arriving at the diner. Fortunately, it wasn't packed with people as it wasn't the time for lunch or dinner. They chose a table at the corner where they can be guaranteed privacy. Moments after the sat down, a waitress arrived at their table and handed out the menus and walked off again to give them some time to decide what to eat.

"Wow, look at that. They have your ice creams in the menu, pretty boy."

"Yessssss!" Spencer was so excited that she screamed in glee, causing a few customers to turn their head and stare at them.


	13. Chapter 13

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

"JJ's right. It did feel like I am hugging a living teddy bear."

They walked out of the parking lot and crossed the street carefully before arriving at the diner. Fortunately, it wasn't packed with people as it wasn't the time for lunch or dinner. They chose a table at the corner where they can be guaranteed privacy. Moments after the sat down, a waitress arrived at their table and handed out the menus and walked off again to give them some time to decide what to eat.

"Wow, look at that. They have your ice creams in the menu, pretty boy."

"Yessssss!" Spencer was so excited that she screamed in glee, causing a few customers to turn their head and stare at them.

* * *

Rossi was just finished his talk with Officer Max. The man admitted that he had never thought that his sons would bully people, so that was why he did not keep an eye on them properly and for that, he apologized profusely. He even asked to meet with agent Hotch and agent JJ to apologize appropriately but Rossi was quick to shut down the idea, because he didn't think that Hotch can be a bit out of control when Spencer was involved. It was better that he was the one to do the explanation.

He sat in the room to wait for JJ and Hotch. He managed to finish reading a few articles on the internet before JJ came in from her meeting with the press.

"Hey, Rossi. Where are the others? I thought I would come back to Spencer still in the middle of the nap. Where is he?" JJ greeted.

"They went out to the opposite dinner. And we will join them after we have a talk, but we need to wait for Hotch first."

"What do you mean a talk? I felt like I'm in trouble and waiting to be disciplined by my parents." JJ laughed.

"Urgghhh, I am not that old." Rossi groaned. At that moment, the door opened to reveal Hotch.

"Where is Spencer?" 'Go figure. That would be his first question.' Rossi thought knowing that he had made the correct choice not letting Officer Max met with Hotch. So taking a really deep breath, Rossi then proceed to tell them about the previous accident and prepare for their reaction. After he was finished, he let the information sank in on the couple and prevent from saying anything to aggravate the already furious parents.

"You mean they were the one who gave him the bruises yesterday?" JJ asked breaking the silence atmosphere between them. Rossi nodded silently. He could see how Hotch's fist tightens suddenly and JJ's frowning.

"And I assure you that this matter was already taken care of. Officer Max promised to watch his sons better and made sure that this incident will not repeat. So when we join them at the diner, you guys will not mention this incident to Spencer, understand?" Rossi looked them in their eyes. He quickly cut them off when he saw they were about to protest.

"He was already embarrassed enough about being bullied. You know how he hates to appear weak in front of us. So it's better if we let him approach the subject by itself. And if you did not follow my advice and still confront him about this, I am going to take him to sleep in my room that I shared with Morgan." Rossi threatened knowing that threat would make Hotch relent, and he was right.

"Alright, I promised." Hotch sighed and then Rossi turned to JJ, who nodded her head as a sign that she agreed with Hotch. Rossi smirked as he got up and headed towards the door.

"Now come on, let's go meet that son of yours. He must been asking for his parents all this time."

"Dave?" Hotch calling his name made him stopped in his walking but did not turn back.

"Yes?"

"You make an excellent grandfather. Would you like to adopt a few grandchildren?" Hotch teased him as he follow his lead.

"No thank you. Spencer is enough. I would die due to heart attack if I have more of them. I don't know how you guys do it. Being grandfather is tough and I can't imagine being parents. But I see you guys are doing a damn good job at it." They just grinned at each other before heading towards the diner.

* * *

The moment they opened the door to the diner, they immediately spotted Emily and Morgan at the corner table with Spencer on Emily's lap. Morgan kept feeding him some of his food while Emily made sure to wipe any smudges from his face. That was a sight they never imagine to see. Morgan and Emily always say that they are not cut out to take care of Spencer as they lack the parental instinct. They claimed that they are more like elder siblings, the ones that make fun of the younger one and then let the parents deal with him when they cried. At least that's what they always say to Hotch and JJ but now the scene in front of them make them think they don't have to worry anymore about leaving Spencer with them after this.

"Mommy, Daddy, untle Wossi, you guys are hewe. You have to twy theiw banana split. They're delic'us." Spencer's exclamation pulled them out of their musing and with a grin, they joined them at the table.

"Spencer, what are you eating, young man?" Hotch narrowed his eyes looking at his bowl in front of him.

"Ummm, ice creams? I'm sowwy. I know I wasn't supposed to eat ice tweam befowe dinnew, daddy."

"Relax buddy, I am not mad you eat ice cream before dinner."

"You awe not?"

"No, I am just mad that you don't share it with me." His reply got Spencer to beam.

"Of tourse you tan have some, daddy." Spencer then proceeded to scoop some of his ice cream and feed them to everyone on the table, who gladly opened their mouth to him. Before they know it, he was sitting on the table turning to feed one person after the other his ice cream to the point they even ordered another bowl of banana split just for him to happily continue with his feeding.

"Did Michael confess already?" Morgan asked as he watched his baby brother fed ice cream to JJ, who smiled at him before kissing him on the cheek leaving ice cream smudges on his cheek. He just giggled happily at the gesture while trying to wipe off the stain.

"No, the man refused to talk so sheriff Adam decided to call it a day and continue tomorrow morning."

"That means we got the evening and night free!" Emily stated.

"I guess we do. What do you think we should do?"

"Well, I have an idea. I saw an advertisement that say there is a carnival in town. What do you say we go there tonight?" Rossi suggested and when no one argued with him, he continued.

"Well, it is decided then. We are going to carnival tonight. " His statement was met with a happy yell from the youngest and Emily and Morgan's yell may or may not have joined him.

* * *

After finishing with their food, they returned back to station to grab their things and promising to return in the morning, they made their way back towards their hotel. Again, Spencer fell asleep in his carrier causing the adults to let out a sigh a relief. Not having to fight him to take a nap is a major thing to be crossed off their list.

Taking the sleeping boy from JJ, Hotch then headed to his room. He ordered them to get some rest and met up in his room after 4 hours to go to the carnival and they all agreed with the idea. He balanced Spencer in one hand while trying to open the door to their hotel room with the other hand. Then after he succeeded, he headed straight to the bed that he shared with Spencer while the other bed mostly used to lay out their clothes. Throwing open the covers, he softly lay down the sleeping toddler on the pillow. Then he reached down to open his shoes and after making sure that the child was comfortable, he kissed his forehead and tucked the blanket around him.

"Sweet dream, son." He whispered softly.

He was adamant to start on his report that evening so that he would have more time to spend with Spencer after they returned back to Virginia but one moan from the sleeping boy changed his plan. As he sat in the living room with his files in his lap and his pen in his hand, a shuffling sound can be heard and before long, Spencer's head poke out from the door.

"Daddy, whewe awe you?" Spencer's voice was thick with sleep.

"Right here, buddy." Hotch answered as he arranged all the papers inside the files and put them away to make space for the young boy as he walked towards him with his blankie dragging behind him. When Spencer reached him, he quickly climbed into his lap and burrowed himself in his father's chest before letting out a contented sigh and closed his eyes in bliss, with his blankie tucked between them.

"Hey, you don't want to sleep on the bed? It's more comfortable there." Hotch asked as he pat his son's back, like JJ used to do all the time.

"No. Tomfowtable hewe. With daddy." He never ceased to amaze him. Just when he thought he could not possibly feel more happy and proud as a parent, Spencer go and do something like this. 'I don't understand why William Reid could not see how much a wonderful boy he is? Every one should be proud to have Spencer as a child. But I am glad he is mine now. I will protect you and make sure you are happy and safe. I won't leave you and maybe we can convince JJ to join our little family." Hotch quickly stop his musing when he felt Spencer moving around trying to find a comfortable position to sleep.

"What if I came and lay with you, would you sleep on the bed. Buddy?"  
"Otay."

Hotch then carefully stood up with his charge and walked the short distance towards the bed. His attempt to lay Spencer down was terminated as the boy clung to him and made a disapprove noise in his throat. So Hotch change his plan. He slipped off his shoes and lay down on the bed, bringing Spencer with him. This time they both let out a sigh of content, and before long, they entered the sweet world of dream.

* * *

After 2 hours of sleeping and another half hour laying and rolling around the bed with his son, Hotch finally forced himself to get up and get ready for their night out. Ignoring his son's whine of disappointment, even though all he wanted to do was lay back down with his son and shower him with attention, he knew that he could not afford to do that right now since he just received a message from Morgan saying that he and Rossi are coming over to 'play' with the little tot anytime soon and he was not about to greet them in their sleeping clothes. He still needed to maintain his reputation as their boss, after all. So, with heavy heart, he kissed his son's forehead and ruffled his brown hair and whisper "Come on son, it's time for shower."

He walked over to the closet and took out their outfits for the night. He then walked over to the tv and turned it on and choosing cartoon channel that he knew that Spencer likes it and if the yell of joy from the young boy on the bed was any indication. He never understands the cartoon no matter how many times Spencer makes him watch it but his son seems to understand and enjoy and that is all that matters.

"You be good while I take my shower, okay buddy?" Hotch stated but Spencer was already too engrossed on his cartoon to reply him. He was laying on his stomach with hands beneath his chin and legs dangling upwards behind him. Shaking his head at his son's antic and satisfied that the boy was entertained, he made his way for his shower. About 10 minutes later, Hotch was already finished and he quickly prepared for Spencer's bath.

"Come on buddy, it's your turn." Hotch told the boy who was so focussed on watching the cartoon and Hotch could have sworn he was not blinking at all.

"10 mowe minutes pwease, daddy?" Spencer begged, not ready to stop.

"No. We don't want the water to get cold. Come on, the tv will still be here when we get back." In the end, Hotch had to pick and carry the boy to the bathroom himself and all the way there, Spencer's eyes were still focused on the tv. After much fussing, both father and son were ready and properly clothed. After Hotch dressed him in an orange-striped t-shirt and long jeans with strapped, Spencer carried on with watching his cartoon. Hotch decided that he might as well take the opportunity to continue his unfinished report until Morgan and Rossi arrived.

* * *

When it was 6 o'clock on the dot, the door bell rang signalling that the ladies were ready to go to the carnival. Rossi, who was the closest, got up to open the door. JJ and Emily walked inside to find Morgan and Spencer were wrestling on the bed while at the sofa, Hotch was sitting with reports spread around him and opposite him which they assumed were Rossi's spot. The room was filled with Morgan's teasing and Spencer's laughter.

"Hey, you guys already doing your report. That's not fair." Emily cried.

"When I got here, Hotch was doing his report so I decided to join him but I think he almost finished with his." Rossi explained.

"I had to take every chance that I can get. At home, the only time I can do it is after I put Spencer to sleep which is not much." Hotch defended himself.

"Well, your report can wait until later. Right now, we have a carnival to go to." JJ said as he helped them to clear away the files and folders. The men got the message to stop what they were doing and get ready to go out, which they did just that.

"Morgan, Spencer, we are going out now. Go and get ready." Hotch instructed them. They quickly stopped what they were doing and went over to greet the newly arrived members. Spencer ran straight to them and crashed onto JJ's leg.

"Spencer, don't run or you will hurt yourself." JJ softly reminded him. He quickly apologised as JJ bent down to his level and hugged him.

"It's okay. Where are your shoes and jackets? It might be a bit cold at night so we have to bring your jacket." JJ told him. Spencer quickly pointed to Hotch and as expected Hotch came and bring those two things and handed to Rossi who volunteered to help Spencer get ready before they walked to the parking lot and got into their SUV and headed to the carnival.


	14. Chapter 14

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

"Spencer, don't run or you will hurt yourself." JJ softly reminded him. He quickly apologised as JJ bent down to his level and hugged him.

"It's okay. Where are your shoes and jackets? It might be a bit cold at night so we have to bring your jacket." JJ told him. Spencer quickly pointed to Hotch and as expected Hotch came and bring those two things and handed to Rossi who volunteered to help Spencer get ready before they walked to the parking lot and got into their SUV and headed to the carnival.

* * *

When they arrived, they saw that the place was packed with so many people. They got out of the vehicle and waited for JJ to get Spencer out of the carrier. They looked around and saw there were a lot of games and food stalls around them making them excited.

"Prentiss, what do you say we compete in the shooting games. Losers have to buy dinner." Morgan grinned.

"You are on, Morgan. Get ready to empty your wallet." Emily smirked.

"Nu uh, you are the one who is going to buy my dinner. And I felt like eating lobster tonight." Morgan challenged her. Spencer, who was finally free, had heard the whole conversation as he quickly bounced towards them and taking Morgan's and Emily's hand he made a pull towards the direction of the games.

"Tome on then, I wanna see you guys shoot." Spencer urged as the three of them grinned at each other and with their hands linked together, they started to head to the games stand but before they could make that far, Rossi's voice stopped them.

"Freeze!" The three of them stopped in their tracks and turned around, wondering why Rossi would hold back their adventure of fun. They could not wait any longer from the looks of their face as they were fidgeting in their place. Well, at least Spencer did where as Emily and Morgan almost look like they were going to follow the kid's example while Hotch and JJ watched all of this in amusement.

"Now I know you children are excited to go and play. But we have to establish some rules first."

"Rules? What rules? We are adults for gods sake, except the kid here. We can take care of ourselves." Emily claimed, ignoring Spencer's whine of protest.

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe. I felt compelled to give you three bracelets with my name and number just in case you got lost." Rossi said seriously causing Hotch and JJ to laugh at the shocked expression on the face of the other members.

"You can't be serious man." Morgan tried to argue but from the look of Rossi's face he knew that the man meant business so he gave up his argument.

"First rule, no running away alone. Make sure others know your whereabouts. Second, we are going to the restaurant first and after we finish our dinner then you can go and play, understand?" Rossi asked.

The three of them sighed while wearing similar expression of disappointment and it was so comical to see as JJ and Hotch tried to hide their chuckle.

"Come on then children, the restaurant is this way. If you want to play games, make sure you finish your dinner, including vegetables. Okay children?" JJ could not ignore the perfect chance to tease them.

"HA HA, very funny, JJ." Morgan groaned as he glared at her but nevertheless he trudged behind her.

* * *

Later on, after their dinner, they were spotted walking through the carnival with painting on their faces. JJ decided that it was not right to go to a carnival and not do face painting and she proceeded to persuade the others to do face painting with her. As a result, JJ had a picture of yellow butterfly on both her cheeks, Emily had red rose on her right cheek, Morgan had footballs and lastly for Spencer, they decided on whiskers and now he looked a lot like a cute kitten. Morgan quickly took a picture of him so that he could show them to Garcia later. Rossi and Hotch refused to join them in the face painting no matter how much the others begged them to.

They just walked around aimlessly and if they saw something interesting, all of them will stop and watch. More often than not, they stopped at games stall to play games, ring tosses, balloon darts, fishing ponds, and shooting games. They even managed to drag Rossi and Hotch to play the games and they could have sworn they saw them grinning and enjoying themselves, not that the two would admit it if asked.

Rossi made sure they stopped at inflatable rides, obstacles, rock climbing walls to give time for Spencer to jump around and play with the games suitable for his age, but he was stunned when not only Morgan and Emily wanted to join him, even Hotch and JJ were also seen at the climbing walls. They claimed that they want to make sure Spencer would not fall and injured himself but Rossi was finding it hard to believe when all he could see was Spencer climbing at the bottom alone while Hotch and Morgan are competing to climb to the top with Emily and JJ not too far behind.

They were really having so much fun together. They could not remember the last time they had this much fun. On normal days, none of them would even think of stepping a foot to the carnival. A grown adult walking at a carnival would have looked suspicious not to mention boring. But now, with Spencer being a kid, they used him as the excuse to go somewhere fun and enjoy themselves.

* * *

Morgan and Spencer were currently waiting for JJ and Emily outside of a stall, who wanted to stop and buy some souvenirs for Garcia and they also intended buy gifts for Officer Kate as an appreciation for letting them borrow the carrier that had been so much help for them these past couple of days. At the same time, Hotch and Rossi had excused themselves to go and retrieve Spencer's jacket from the car. The night is getting colder and the last thing they need is for Spencer to have a cold.. As Morgan and Spencer were looking around, a group of ladies in their late twenties, most probably approached them.

"Wow, aren't you cute little boy? What's your name, sweetie?" One of them said as they surrounded the two of them and cooed over the clueless Spencer. The sudden attention caught Spencer off guard as his shyness surfaced and he quickly hid his face in Morgan's shoulder. His timid act only caused the ladies to coo louder over his adorableness. Knowing that his brother was not going to answer them anytime soon, Morgan decided he might as well do.

"His name is Spencer. I'm sorry but he is a bit shy around strangers, especially around gorgeous ladies as you guys." Morgan said as he flashed them his flirting smile.

"Ooo, Cute name for a cute boy! And what would be the name of you, handsome?" Another lady asked as she turned her attention from Spencer to Morgan.

"The name is Derek Morgan. But you can call me, Der." If possible, Morgan's grin just got wider.

"Der it is. Are you guys new here? We did not think we have seen you and your son before."

"No. We are from Virginia, here for some work. And actually, Spencer here is not my son. We are waiting for his mother in the stall. Aren't we, Spencer?" Morgan said as he pointed to the stall where JJ and Emily were currently located. Spencer raised his head bravely as he turned to the others and shyly nodded his head to answer Morgan's question with "uhuh." As expected, the ladies again screamed at his cuteness.

"So, I guess you are single then?" She directed the question to Morgan as she attempted to flirt with him.

"Single and available." Morgan said as he flirted back. Spencer could only roll his eyes at his brother's behaviour.

"Well then, call us the next time you are in town. Maybe you can teach us how you become so good with kids." She said as she slipped a card in his hand, before winking at him. With a final wave of goodbyes and ruffles of Spencer's hair, the ladies left them to their own. Morgan can't stop the grin on his face while Spencer huffed as he tried to brush back the hair that had gotten on his face.

"Man, can you believe that? Some beautiful ladies just came out of nowhere and gave me their phone numbers."

"Tood(Good) fow you. Tongratulations." Spencer replied with sarcasm dripping in his words.

"Hey, I guess this means that I should take you with me to the nightclub and make you my wingman. We will have girls around us in no time." Unnoticed to them, JJ and Emily were making their way over to them, and they had heard the last part of their conversation, and of course, JJ freaked out.

"Don't you dare, Morgan. You can't bring Spence to a place like that. It is not safe." JJ scolded him as she reached to take him from Morgan as if to shield the young boy from Morgan.

"Hey, I was only kidding. I would never take pretty boy to a nightclub." Morgan was quick to defend himself before JJ went into her mother hen mode.

"Sure you won't" Emily said in disbelief causing Morgan to glare to at her.

"Shut up, Em."

At that moment, Rossi and Hotch who came from the direction of the parking lot joined them with Spencers' bag in Hotch's hand, and they immediately noticed the slight change of tension in the air and they quickly asked what the problem was. Morgan quickly denied saying there was nothing wrong but at the same time, Emily also opened her mouth to explain what she had heard.

"Morgan said he wants to make Spencer his wingman and bring him to a nightclub."

"What? Don't you even think about it." Hotch warned.

"I was only kidding! Man, no one knows how to appreciate jokes anymore." Morgan complained.

"You better. If I hear you take him to somewhere dangerous, you are banned from going to a nightclub for the rest of your life!" Rossi threatened.

"You can't do that!" Morgan argued.

"Sure I can. That's the perk of being an FBI agent. You don't want me to test the power do you?" Rossi smirked.

"No, sir. I swear to not take the kid to the nightclub." Morgan assured them not doubting that Rossi was capable of such thing.

"I will pretend that I did not hear that." Hotch muttered referring to Rossi's mention of power abuse. He had learned the hard way not to question Rossi's way of handling things or he will regret it. The others chuckled softly at his statement. He just ignored them as he turned to Spencer who was in JJ's arm and started to put on his jacket that he had taken from the bag. Knowing better than to argue, Spencer just complied with his order to raise his hand when asked.

"Warm enough, buddy?" Hotch asked after he finish zipping the jacket. Spencer nodded his head and unconsciously, he knuckled his heavy eyes and the movement did not go unnoticed by the adults.

"Are you tired, sweetie?" JJ questioned as she moved to position him more comfortably in her arms, half sitting and half lying. The same position she usually used to rock Spencer to sleep.

"No." His quick answer was only what they needed to confirm that he was indeed tired.

"Maybe we should finally call it a night and go back to the hotel." Rossi suggested, but was immediately met with loud protest from the young boy.

"No, You pwomised we will see the magic show. I wanna watch it." Spencer whined as he moved to sit properly to show that he was not tired. But it only served to prove their theory further, as they know Spencer tend to get cranky and whiny when he was tired and sleepy.

Hotch knew hot stubborn his son can get, if they denied his want now, neither of them will be happy tonight. Besides, he realized that Spencer won't last very long, especially if they walked around a little. If he fell asleep in the middle performance, then they can go back to the hotel with him already asleep and it will be easier to get him ready for bed.

"Ok. We will go and watch the performance as promised. Come on, the performance is going to start in 10 minutes and we better go now before the place is full." Hotch stated. The others agreed as they started walking toward the direction of the big canopy where the magic show will be held.

When they entered the canopy, the place was already crowded with people and after looking around for a while, they finally spotted some empty seats enough for all of them. The difficult thing was to make their way through the crowd to get to their seats.

"JJ, give me Spencer. Why don't you and Emily go ahead and save us the seats. It will be difficult for you to get through while carrying him." Rossi advised. JJ just shrugged and not seeing any objection from Spencer, she gave him to Rossi, knowing that he will be in good hands. She then grabbed Emily's hand and together the two women headed to the empty seats followed by Morgan who wanted to make sure they made it there safe and sound.

Finally, they were all seated and waiting for the performance to start. Emily and JJ sat in the middle as Morgan sat next to Emily at one end, while Hotch sat next to JJ and finally, Rossi sat next to Hotch with Spencer on his lap. Spencer was struggling to force opened his heavy eyes as he was determined to stay awake through the entire performance but it was proved to be so much difficult as times past and he did not even realized that he had closed his eyes.

Rossi looked down when he felt Spencer slumped heavily on his chest and saw that the kid had fallen asleep. Slowly, he moved to lay him properly across his lap but that small movement caused Spencer to jolt awake as he struggled to sit back up and watch the performance but unfortunately, that did not last long as he slowly fell asleep again. Not even two minutes later, the kid was startled awake by the movement around him. Rossi sighed seeing how restless the kid is getting. Somehow, the kid just can't get comfortable to fall asleep properly. Thinking that maybe he just need Hotch as he had seen countless time how Hotch can put the kid to sleep easily, Rossi nudged Hotch's side, who was sitting next to him. Hotch quickly turned to him.

"Spencer kept startling awake every time he closes his eyes. I think he will sleep better with you." Rossi said as he slipped his hand below Spencer's leg and neck and handed the sleeping child to his father. Hotch quickly opened his arms to accept the boy.

Spencer whimpered in his sleep as he felt him being moved, Hotch quickly made shushing voice as he patted his bottom and bouncing him a little knowing that it will get Spencer back to sleep. And sure enough, Spencer quickly stopped his whimper and fell asleep again. For a while, he slept soundlessly in Hotch's arm and he thought that they boy finally felt into peaceful sleep when suddenly a loud cheering and the sound of hands clapping from the audiences causes Spencer to wake up again. This time, it took both JJ and Hotch to shush him back to sleep.

JJ realized that if his sleep is interrupted one more time, it won't be long before they have to deal with a cranky Spencer. When she saw the diaper bag and trying to think of something inside there that can get him to sleep better, it was then she suddenly remembered the carrier and how Spencer tend to fall asleep in it and she thought that it was worth a shot.

As quickly and quietly she could, she grabbed the carrier from the bag and put it on. Realizing her idea, Hotch tried to help her out while balancing Spencer with one hand and before long, Spencer was strapped to her front and this time he did not wake up at all. He stayed asleep until the end of the performance. Even when it's time to leave and during their walk to the car, Spencer did not move or made any sound, and that brought relief to the others.

"Maybe we should have a carrier like this in possession. Maybe after this, nap time won't be that distressing anymore." JJ whispered as she gazed at the sleeping toddler with such angelic face in the carrier.

"I was thinking the exact same thing. I will put in my lists to buy it as soon as possible." Hotch agreed with her. These past few days, naptime has never been so easy for them. It is not like he was thinking of using it, he didn't think that his son would like it if he use the carrier, and he was sure that Morgan and Rossi also agreed with him. No. He was only going to buy it so that JJ and Emily and no doubt Garcia would use it too. If that is what his son needs then he will provides for him, like any good father would.


	15. Chapter 15

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

This story takes place somewhere during season 4 when Emily is still present. Somehow, Spencer Reid got caught in the experiment of one UNSUB and got turned into a child. I am so sorry to change the story a bit where Hotch is not married. There will be no Haley, Jack, Will or Henry.

English is not my first language so I want to apologize for any error in grammar or vocabulary. I hope you enjoy and review. Thank you.

* * *

 **Previously,**

"I was thinking the exact same thing. I will put in my lists to buy it as soon as possible." Hotch agreed with her. These past few days, naptime has never been so easy for them. It is not like he was thinking of using it, he didn't think that his son would like it if he use the carrier, and he was sure that Morgan and Rossi also agreed with him. No. He was only going to buy it so that JJ and Emily and no doubt Garcia would use it too. If that is what his son needs then he will provides for him, like any good father would.

* * *

The next morning, JJ was woken up by the sound of knocking on the door. She reached out for her phone to look at the time and saw that it was only 5.22 in the morning. She looked over the other bed and saw Emily was also awaking from the sound. When the persistent knocking did not stop, she forced herself to get up and slipped a robe before she went to answer the door while wondering who would be knocking on their door so early in the morning.

She was a bit shocked to see Hotch in his suit with Spencer, who was wrapped in his blanket, asleep in his arms and both their bags on the floor next to his feet.

"Sorry to disturb your sleep. I got a call from the sheriff and he said that Michael was ready to talk and requested us to make a deal with him. So Rossi and I are heading to the station right now. You guys don't have to come in until 10, so I thought it is better to leave Spencer with you than bringing him to the station so early."

"Of course. Give him here." JJ opened her arms and Hotch swiftly and carefully deposited the swaddled toddler in her arms. Spencer's whimper immediately quieted down when JJ bounced him a little.

"All of his things are in the bag." Hotch said as he placed the bag inside the room, next to the door. He knew better than to help carry the bag or Spencer inside since it was a women's room. He was already reluctant to interrupt their sleep just to leave Spencer but the option of taking the small boy to the station was already out of the picture to begin with and leaving with Morgan just did not seem right. JJ was more familiar with the boy's routine in the morning so he had no choice but to knock on their door so early in the morning.

"It's okay, Hotch. He will be just fine. When are we scheduled to go back?" JJ questioned when Spencer fell right back to sleep.

"The jet is scheduled to leave at noon. We are going to the airstrip from the station so clear out the room before that." Hotch ordered before the sound of another door opening had them turned their head towards it, where Rossi emerged from his room with his bag ready in his hand.

"I have to go. If he needs anything, just call me. Don't let him sleep too long. I want him to sleep in the jet on the way home." Hotch said as he picked up his bag and got ready to go just as Rossi arrived next to them.

"Come on Aaron, the kid will be safe with his mother." Rossi teased as he tapped the sleeping boy's cheek, but quickly retracted his hand when the boy stirred. He grinned sheepishly when he saw the other two glaring at him and continued on with his journey towards the elevator, followed by Hotch.

After the two men were gone, JJ just shook her head and closed the door softly with one hand while the other was still holding the sleeping boy. She made her way back to the bed and saw Emily watching them and she smirked when she saw Spencer sleeping in her friend's arm.

"Can I wake him?" Emily grinned in her sleepy state.

"No, Em. Go back to sleep. It is still early and I don't want to deal with a crying boy yet. We still have a few hours before we need to go to the station." JJ said tiredly as she laid the boy on the bed and removed her robe before she lay down next to the boy. Immediately, Spencer shifted and snuggled to her side. She smiled softly as she also turned to face the boy and putting a hand around the boy to pull him closer, JJ kissed him on his forehead as she fell asleep while cursing Hotch for taking all the opportunities to snuggle with this boy every night. The last thought that crossed her mind before going to sleep was that she needs to find more time to spend with Spencer once they get back home and she was not going to let anyone stop her, not even Hotch.

* * *

The next time JJ woke up is about 2 hours after Hotch left. Emily, who had woken up earlier had already showered and dressed for work and was currently packing up all her things in her bags. JJ thought that she might as well do the same while Spencer was still asleep. Speaking of the boy, JJ looked down to the child in her arms that was still asleep with his thumb firmly in his mouth. As slowly as she could, she untangled herself and when she managed to stand, she froze in her track when Spencer moved and whined in his sleep looking for her.

JJ was quick to act as she took a pillow nearby and placed it beneath the young's arm and that seemed to satisfy him as he cuddled into the pillow and let out a soft sigh before being quiet once again. Emily, who was standing nearby and watching them, let out a chuckle at his cute antic. JJ quickly put a finger in front of her mouth signalling her to be quiet.

"I am gonna take a shower and get ready. Watch him, okay? Don't disturb him while sleeping. If you wake him up, I am gonna tell Hotch." JJ threatened as she got ready to take her shower.

"Using your boyfriend to threaten me, shame on you JJ." Emily said as she stuck her tongue out to JJ.

"At least I have one." JJ stuck her tongue back at her.

"Ouch. That really hurts, JJ." Emily faked a hurt expression to which JJ just rolled her eyes and got into the bathroom while Emily carried on with packing her bag and when she finished with her task, she went to the sofa to watch tv, while keeping her ears out for any sign of Spencer waking up.

* * *

Not even 20 minutes later, Emily could hear a moan coming from the boy on JJ's bed. Emily quickly muted the tv and listened, she was hoping that the boy would not wake up yet while JJ was still in shower but her prayer went unanswered when she heard him shifted on the bed. Emily could not see him and at the same time he could not see Emily.

"Daddy?" Spencer called out sleepily. After a while of getting no reply, Emily can hear the boy started to whimper, calling for his daddy. Hearing him cry had Emily in panic. Every time Spencer forgot that he was actually an adult and tends to act like a child, Hotch and JJ were present and they were the best in dealing with him but now Emily was left alone to deal with young Spencer and she did not know how.

Before his crying could get louder, Emily quickly got up and made her way to the bed, where the child was located while trying to think how to handle a crying toddler. She decided to just go with her instincts as she sat down next to him and embraced him.

"Hey handsome, Were you scared that you wake up alone? It's okay, honey, don't cry. Hotch left to the station earlier and he did not want to disturb you sleeping so he left you with JJ." Emily tried to console the crying boy. Surprisingly, she realized that she actually possess hidden maternal instincts that she didn't know that she had, for Spencer started to quiet down in her hold.

"Mommy..mommy?" he sobbed out next startling Emily. It took a while for Emily to grasp that Spencer was actually asking for JJ, not his biological mother who was residing in Bennington Sanitarium in Las Vegas. Because if he was, then she really did not know how to answer that one. As for JJ, of course she could answer him easily.

"Mommy is in the bathroom, sweetie. But she will be done soon. Do you want to watch tv while we wait for her?" Emily asked softly. The boy shook his head and then he pointed to the door leading to the bathroom, where JJ was. Now Emily was at lost. Apparently Spencer was trying to tell her something but she could not understand it and she was afraid that he will start to cry again if she did not do what he wants.

She took back her earlier thoughts of having some hidden maternal instincts, apparently she still have a lot of things to learn from JJ and one of them is to understand children's sign language. Luckily, at that exact moment, the bathroom door opened and JJ came out from the bathroom, wrapped in a bathrobe, with a towel around her head. Straight away, Spencer raised both his arms asking JJ to pick him up.

"What happen? I thought I hear him crying." JJ asked Emily as she picked the boy up, who quickly put his head on her shoulder.

"He did. I was watching tv. He woke up in different room with no one in sight. He asked for you and Hotch." Emily explained.

"Oh, my poor baby. You must be scared." JJ whispered as she wiped the tear streaks from his face. As expected, the boy just looked at her but did not show any reaction to answer her and JJ did not take any offence as she knew very well that Spencer took longer time to wake up properly.

"Well, at least I can say for sure I am scared. I don't know what I would do without you, JJ. That is the first time I have seen him so quiet and he kept pointing at the bathroom door after I told him you were inside and I can't figure out what he wants and I was ready to cry myself." Emily exclaimed dramatically as she plopped down on the bed.

JJ just laughed as she walked over to the windows and opened the drapes that were covering it to allow morning suns to enter their room. Spencer just watched her quietly from his comfortable position in her arms.

"You are just overreacting, Em. It's normal for a kid to be scared to wake up alone. And Spence here has always been quiet and he really likes to be held after waking up. So you just hold him and let him wake up on his own time and then before you know it, he will be back to his normal self." JJ explained.

"How was I supposed to know that? I never put him to sleep and he never wakes up with me either. It was always you and Hotch and Garcia most of the times." Emily moaned.

"You worry too much. I have seen you with Spencer and I think you do just fine, Em. You and Morgan both." Coming from JJ, that would be considered as a high praise but Emily was finding it hard to believe. She still has a long way to go before she was properly fit to care for Spencer by herself but she was determined to learn.

"Are you going to get him ready? Can I help?" Emily asked sheepishly.

"Of course. You can start by taking his bag by the door and pick his outfits for the day and lay them properly on the bed so that it will be easy to dress him in it once we finished bathing him." Emily got up to do as she was told with a grin on her face.

* * *

When they arrived at the station later, Hotch and Rossi had already finished interrogated Michael and they succeed in getting the confession in exchange of him being transferred to a prison in another country. He claimed that this place only bring painful memories that he did not want to remember.

After getting the confession, their job there was finally done. The only thing left to do was to clear the room that they used during their period of stay, and write their report, but that could wait until they arrived back in Virginia.

Before they left the station, JJ and Spencer went to meet with Officer Kate to return back the carrier that they had borrowed and the gift that they had bought for her last night as a token of appreciation for her kindness and help. They said their goodbyes and promised to keep in contact with each other whenever they can.

By the time they arrived at the airstrip it was already noon and the sun was glaring on their face as they got out of the SUV. Not wanting to be under the heat for too long, they immediately grabbed their bags made their way to the jet. Spencer requested to walk by himself but Hotch disapproved saying that it would be faster and safer if he just carried him up the stairs to the jet. Spencer pouted but complied as he shifted his robot to one hand, while raising his other arms to be picked up. Morgan offered to carry both their bags and Hotch thanked him as he balanced Spencer properly on his hip.

Nodding his head to the others, he said, "Let's go home."

 **THE END. Lastly, thank you for all your reviews and supports till the end.**


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